Recorded on Monday, September 30th 2024. 

The inhibitory effects of soap, antimicrobial and disinfection products are a growing challenge in cheese and dairy industrial wastewater treatment as well as the municipal wastewater treatment plants that receive industrial wastewater discharge.

During food processing, food safety standards and rigorous Clean-in-Place (CIP) procedures require cleaning products with high concentrations of quaternary ammonia compounds (QACs or Quats) – a class of surfactants. These compounds are designed to kill bacteria (biology) which is also the most common way to treat wastewater. QACs and surfactants, in general, inhibit biological wastewater processes by impeding solids separation, oxygen transfer, and nutrient removal.

The inhibitory effects lead to underperforming wastewater treatment plants, causing significant challenges for operators. Until now, there hasn’t been a chemical-free solution to remove or inactivate these contaminants, but new chemical-free technology holds the key.

Learn how Meister Cheese Company solved surfactant inhibition in their wastewater treatment plant that limited cheese production capacity, resulting in the ability to increase cheese production, biogas production and cogeneration.

Key Takeaways/Objectives:

• Understand the inhibitory effects of surfactants, disinfectants/antimicrobials and FOG on wastewater treatment performance
• Learn how common food safety chemicals impede wastewater treatment and limit capacity causing an array of issues
• Know how to look for the symptoms and understand the conventional solutions
• Discover a chemical-free solution and how Meister Cheese Company used it to solve their wastewater treatment issues to recover production and efficiency
• Learn how nanobubbles help with wastewater sustainability and help meet increasing environmental regulations

Speakers:

• John Crisman, Moleaer’s Senior Water Process Engineer
• Larry Harris, Meister Cheese Company’s Master Cheesemaker & Director of Operations

The recording below is available free for ACS members - make sure you are logged in to your account to view. If you are not a member, you can purchase the recording for $25 here.