The food service industry covers a broad range of manufacturing processes including bread and sweet-good bakeries; meat, fish and poultry processors; vegetable preparation; animal and vegetable oil processing; beverage and condiment preparation.

Wastewater Generation

Although the manufacturing processes may be very different across the food service industry, the wastewater generated has similar characteristics and similar problems including:

• pH excursions caused by acid and caustic cleaning processes and the use or manufacturing of acidic products such as vinegar (acetic acid) and citric acid.
• High levels of settleable solids and suspended solids caused by cleaning operations and in-product loss during production.
• High levels of five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). BOD5 is a 5-day bio-assay type test and can be considered a measure of biodegradability as it relates to wastewater treatment. COD is a chemical degradation test that takes a few hours to complete and is used as a surrogate to BOD5.
• Excessive fats, oils and grease (FOG) caused during bakery operations, fryer and cooker cleaning; product loss during transfer; and in blending and cleanup operations. It should be noted that each pound of FOG generates approximately 2 pounds of BOD5.

Treatment System Components

The most common treatment processes for the specialty chemicals industry:

• Equalization
• pH adjustment
• Screening
• Clarifiers / Settlers
• Dissolved Air Flotation
• Recycle systems
• Solids handling
• Discharge monitoring

CWS is capable of providing the following services related to your water and wastewater handling needs:

• Water and wastewater treatability studies
• Product loss evaluations
• Engineering and design
• Complete water and wastewater treatment systems
• Design-build (D-B); design-build-operate (D-B-O); design-build-operate-finance (D-B-O-F)
• Equipment Components