Boosting factory performance
May 28th 2010 In recent years investment in membrane filtration has helped food, home and personal care brand Unilever to significantly boost the performance of its Marmite factory in Burton upon Trent
As with many food producers,water plays a fundamental role in Marmite’s manufacturing process and the site deals with large quantities on a daily basis. In 2006,Marmite embarked on a large scale campaign to optimise water use and minimise effluent discharge.
The factory achieved significant water savings between 2005 and 2006 as a result of upgrading to more efficient equipment, including the implementation of Cleaning in Place (CIP) technology. CIP enables the internal surfaces of pipes and vessels to be cleaned automatically, without the need for manual cleaning or disassembly.As a result, the company has reduced the volume of mains water used on site by 40 per cent since 2006.
Driven by these improvements, Marmite turned its attention to effluent management. Its production process generates a high-strength effluent due to the product’s raw material, yeast, from the brewing industry.
Historically, much of the process effluent had been treated on site by aerobic digestion in a bio-tower before being discharged to the sewer.However, some of the highest strength effluent could not be dealt with in this way and therefore had to be disposed of by an external contractor, resulting in associated costs.
With its existing treatment plant nearing the end of its working life and disposal costs on the agenda,Marmite’s water project team took the opportunity to investigate the most efficient technology for its replacement. Their favoured solution was membrane filtration, which formed a key part of a new wastewater treatment plant opened in 2008, marking the most significant step of Marmite’s water efficiency campaign to date.
The plant’s four-phase system allows all process effluent to be handled on site. It includes anaerobic and aerobic digestion,plus the use of ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis processes, enabling approximately 40 per cent of effluent to be re-used in the factory as top-up water for the steam and cooling water systems.In addition,the resulting biogas is used as a renewable energy source in the site’s boilers.
One hurdle faced by the water team was the need to convince senior management that this new equipment would be a worthwhile investment. The team contacted Envirowise, which advised Marmite to take advantage of the tax benefit offered by the Water Technology List (WTL).
Managed by Defra and HM Revenue & Customs in partnership with Envirowise, the WTL provides a selection of water-efficient technologies that meet published eligibility criteria.The web-based list, available at www.businesslink.gov.uk/wtl, is part of the Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) scheme for water-saving technologies, enabling businesses which pay income or corporation tax to claim 100 per cent first year capital allowances on listed technologies.
Martin Beckford,Factory Manager at Marmite,comments: "Businesses investing in water-efficient technology using the ECA scheme can help to protect the environment, while improving their financial performance through water savings and accelerated tax relief. At Unilever we call this ‘doing well by doing good’and the WTL definitely helped us to secure management buy-in to the project.
“In 2010 we hope to build on the results we have achieved to date by investing in further membrane technology, which could allow us to maximise the quality of our abstracted water supply. We have a borehole on site, but have not been able to use this water for more than three years due to the volume of silt it contains.Membrane filtration could help us to reduce this and open-up an additional water supply – further reducing our reliance on mains water and offering further cost savings.”
Investment in water-efficient technology has also helped Unilever to play its part in the Federation House Commitment (FHC), an initiative led by Envirowise and the Food & Drink Federation which has seen more than 40 of the UK’s leading food and drink manufacturers agree to improve their water efficiency. The first year of the commitment resulted in a collective reduction in water use of 476 thousand cubic metres or 1.7% – an impressive step towards a food and drink manufacturing sector target to reduce water use by 20% by 2020. You can find out more about the FHC at www.fhc2020.co.uk More articles from Water Technology List: | 
