Food Processing Industry
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| ANAEROBIC PHASED SOLIDS (APS) DIGESTER SYSTEMS |
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A remarkable business opportunity currently exists in the food processing industry that generates waste as part of the
process of converting raw food into packaged, market-ready products. A typical plant generates 10% to 40% waste in
processing food from the fields. Waste may often reach hundreds of tons per day, presently hauled to landfills or post
processed and disposed of in wastewater lagoons or sanitary sewer systems.
Over the past two years, OPS worked with several multi-national companies that provide wastewater treatment and
energy services to the food industry. Through numerous visits, meetings, conferences and site visits, OPS and these
partner companies completed a detailed market assessment of the food processing industry.
These efforts revealed an immediate market opportunity of over 2,000 food-processing operations nationally that will
benefit from the installation of an APS digester system. These operations currently face strict waste-disposal
regulations and costs, plus increasing costs of and restrictions on process wastewater disposal. In addition, most of
these operations are big consumers of natural gas, faced with constantly increasing fuel prices.
The study found that an average food processing plant generates approximately 125 tons per day of process solid
waste and suspended solids in the wastewater streams. The cost to build an APS digester for this facility is $3.5 million
providing a straight return on investment in 3 to 4 years. With a market of 2,000 operations, this creates an immediate
business opportunity in a currently untapped market of $7 billion.
process of converting raw food into packaged, market-ready products. A typical plant generates 10% to 40% waste in
processing food from the fields. Waste may often reach hundreds of tons per day, presently hauled to landfills or post
processed and disposed of in wastewater lagoons or sanitary sewer systems.
Over the past two years, OPS worked with several multi-national companies that provide wastewater treatment and
energy services to the food industry. Through numerous visits, meetings, conferences and site visits, OPS and these
partner companies completed a detailed market assessment of the food processing industry.
These efforts revealed an immediate market opportunity of over 2,000 food-processing operations nationally that will
benefit from the installation of an APS digester system. These operations currently face strict waste-disposal
regulations and costs, plus increasing costs of and restrictions on process wastewater disposal. In addition, most of
these operations are big consumers of natural gas, faced with constantly increasing fuel prices.
The study found that an average food processing plant generates approximately 125 tons per day of process solid
waste and suspended solids in the wastewater streams. The cost to build an APS digester for this facility is $3.5 million
providing a straight return on investment in 3 to 4 years. With a market of 2,000 operations, this creates an immediate
business opportunity in a currently untapped market of $7 billion.