Veolia’s patented solutions for wastewater treatment and biogas production are now in service at Pınar Süt’s factory in İzmir, Turkey, allowing the company to meet new discharge legislation and achieve its environmental commitments.

With this, the carbon emissions at the factory are reduced by 17%, generating substantial savings on natural gas.

Pınar Süt, one of the biggest dairy companies in Turkey producing mainly milk, yoghurt, cheese, fruit juices, ketchup and mayonnaise, has acted on its ambition for sustainable development with the recent wastewater treatment plant built by Veolia Water Technologies.

The treated water is suitable for reuse with further tertiary treatment for certain applications in the factory such as flushing water, which contributes to the sustainability objectives of Pınar Süt.

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Two Veolia-patented technologies are at the heart of the process that allows the production of valuable biogas.

The wastewater first goes through a screen and a Idraflot® dissolved air flotation unit to retain fat, oil and grease (FOG) and suspended solids before entering the Biobed® EGSB granular biomass anaerobic treatment unit where over 80% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) is removed.

This treatment stage produces about 45% of the biogas generated at the plant. The FOG retained in the DAF is combined with other organic waste and sent to a Biobulk™ CSTR unit for purification and further biogas production.

Corporate carbon footprint calculations and reporting studies have been performed in Pınar Süt since 2011. Accordingly, the company continuously carries out activities aimed at reducing its carbon emissions by 15%.

The 3,600 m3/day wastewater treatment plant allows a total daily production of 8,980 Nm3 of biogas which is used in the factory boilers, resulting in considerable savings on natural gas and making a significant contribution to Pınar Süt's sustainability targets.

“Thanks to the projects implemented in the Pınar Süt factory, the earnings from such holistic plants give us trust for the future and further steps in the name of our prior sustainability policy,” said Mrs Ozlem Yalçın, Pınar Süt Izmir Plant Director.

Mr Thierry Froment, CEO Middle East, Veolia Water Technologies said: “This project perfectly illustrates the purpose of Veolia, which is to act for and contribute to ecological transformation.

"We are proud to bring our expertise to Pınar Süt through our advanced technologies that allow the reuse of treated wastewater and the production of renewable, clean energy, reducing the strain on local fresh water resources and the environmental footprint of the installation."

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