A new $12m Fonterra wastewater treatment centre has been officially opened in Stirling, New Zealand.
Fonterra South Island environmental manager Ian Goldschmidt said that the centre is believed to be the largest dairy-based membrane biological reactor wastewater treatment facility in the world and the first of its kind in the New Zealand dairy industry.
"Since being installed in November 2008 the plant has processed more than 1 billion litres of site wastewater and treated 3.5 million litres of site process water each day," Goldschmidt said. "The wastewater is treated to be used as water and the solid matter extract is then recycled to be used as a fertiliser."
Wastewaster undergoes a three-step treatment system: firstly a dissolved air flotation unit removes solids, fat and protein from the waste.
Then, using an anaerobic process, bacteria digests organic components in the wastewater, and the water is finally passed through an ultra-filtration system to remove solid material while the bacteria remain in the treatment system.
