Two of the plants each clean 500 cubic metres of the highly contaminated wastewater per day from the paint shop, sewage and other production using a biological wastewater treatment process with subsequent membrane bio-reactor (MBR). A third plant cleans another 500 cubic metres, also biologically, in a sequential batch reactor (SBR). The treated wastewater can finally be used for irrigation purposes. The sewage sludge produced in the purification process is dewatered, dried and used as manure. 

Having carried out some successful trials, REMONDIS Aqua built and now operates an aerobic activated sludge facility with "cross-flow" membranes (MBR facility) to treat the company's production wastewater. The particular challenge here is that the wastewater contains high concentrations of formaldehyde and phenol. The wastewater facility contains extended pre-filtration and sludge thickening technology.

Whilst drawing up the new wastewater treatment concept, priority was put on achieving greater efficiency and process stability combined with greater cost effectiveness. The company opted for REMONDIS Aqua's high-tech process – its RE2ENERGY^® process – in which the contents in the wastewater are transformed into biogas in a fully automated anaerobic pre-treatment facility.

For the most part, the procedure involves anaerobic wastewater treatment. Once the solid matter has been removed and the water neutralised, the wastewater undergoes anaerobic treatment in the RE2ENERGY reactor which not only cleans it but also produces biogas. This pre-treated wastewater can then be discharged into the City of Mönchengladbach's sewer system. The biogas is used straight away in the production plant. The plant needs hot water to manufacture its drinks which had previously been produced in a boiler using natural gas. Once the boiler had been upgraded with an additional biogas firing system, the biogas was able to be recycled and used here leading to a reduction in the amount of natural gas consumed by the plant.

We treat the wastewater, which contains oil, heavy metals and paint particles, with a variety of technologies, such as modern membrane processes (ultrafiltration) and chemical-physical procedures. In addition, REMONDIS Aqua ensures the facility for producing fully desalinated water runs smoothly.

The variable composition of the wastewater has meant that we need to implement special processes, which we developed ourselves and are based on the results of comprehensive studies. Our extensive experience of comparable biological processes was also invaluable here. The production wastewater is now pre-treated biologically before undergoing chemical-physical treatment.

The effluents are first pre-treated through an industrial effluent treatment plant using chemical precipitation. Afterwards, about 90% of the water is recovered through ultrafiltration and subsequent reverse osmosis, so that they can be reused as clean water in industrial processes. Approximately 200 cubic metres of effluents are treated this way every day.

For many years now, Lorenz Snack-World has been one of the leading European producers of snacks with its long-established branded articles such as 'Crunchips', 'Erdnusslocken' or 'Curly Peanuts' and 'Saltletts'. The company has a workforce of around 3,000 employees and sets very high standards when it comes to protecting the environment and conserving natural resources.

The wastewater with high dissolved solids will first be pre-treated chemically before passing through various stages of filtration. The concentrated brine is then fed into multi-effect evaporators, which recover the remaining water and ensure that not a drop of wastewater is released into the environment. High purity sodium sulphate is also recovered as an additional product through special dryers and automatically bagged for reuse in the industry with commercial value.

The screened wastewater from the onion and garlic processing is treated through activated sludge process and filtration so that it can be reused for irrigation purposes. About 350 cubic metres of wastewater are daily treated this way.

REMONDIS Aqua's complex anaerobic wastewater treatment system is now being used to ensure that the wastewater is treated in a resource-friendly way: the RE2ENERGY^® process guarantees highly efficient levels of treatment and at the same time makes the best possible use of the energy found in the contents of the wastewater. The biogas recovered from the treatment process is a renewable energy and substitutes the natural gas that had previously been used in the production process to generate steam. As a result, FSP has been able to significantly reduce its carbon footprint.

Wastewater generated from cheese production and whey processing contains high levels of organic matter – a big challenge for the treatment process. REMONDIS Aqua developed a cost-effective solution: a large percentage of the pollutants are transformed into biogas during the initial treatment phase by using an anaerobic process and then generated into electricity in REMONDIS' own combined heat and power plant. In order to ensure that the energy potential is used in the best possible way, we use the heat generated in the power plant for the treatment process (combined heat and power). In addition, a further procedure was integrated into the system to recover phosphorus, namely our patented REPHOS^® process.

Before treatment, the liquid and solid elements are first separated from each other. The settled sludge is used, among other things, to produce substitute fuels; the liquid elements undergo further treatment stages, including the use of organic separating agents and splitting up emulsions by reducing pH values.