Making ETP More Efficient at the Largest Dairy Foods Manufacturing Company in India

Our clients – India’s oldest and largest dairy foods manufacturers – have a plant in Gujarat, manufacturing a wide range of products, including milk and milk-derived food products like cheese, butter, ghee, ice creams, and more.

Their effluent treatment plant (ETP), using both aerobic and anaerobic digestors, was not able to efficiently degrade wastewater constituents.

Frustrated, they asked us for help in making their ETP more efficient.

One of the things our technical experts observed was that our clients were using cow dung as microbial culture in their anaerobic system.

However, we have observed that microbes present in cow dung are never efficient enough to effectively degrade wastewater. Sure enough, that was the case here, too.

To further compound matters, MLSS levels were low in both the bioreactors, and the optimum MLVSS: MLSS ratio was not maintained.

And even though they were already using a microbial culture to treat wastewater in their aeration tanks, it was not efficient at reducing the COD load.

The major problems our team observed at the plant were:

• High COD
• High BOD
• Oil and Grease
• Chlorides
• Odour

After an in-depth study of the plant and analysis of the problems, our experts decided to bio-augment both systems.

Our objective was to reduce COD loads, in line with Pollution Control Board (PCB) norms, and to stabilize the biological unit for effective plant performance.

Our recommended solution was a combination of CleanMaxx (for their aerobic system) and CleanMaxx ANB (for their anaerobic system).

CleanMaxx is a tailormade, a heterogeneous consortium of beneficial and robust microbes isolated from nature.

The microbes secrete effective enzymes that are completely natural and safe for humans, plants, and animals. CleanMaxx ANB is a variant of CleanMaxx that is specially designed for anaerobic systems.

CleanMaxx ANB provides a continuous source of highly anaerobic and facultative cultures that stabilize the system.

The microbes break down complex organic matter into volatile acids and the volatile acids are further broken down into methane and carbon dioxide.

The results of our intervention were immediate, measurable, and impactful.

The effective microbes present in CleanMaxx steadily degrade organic pollutants, and this leads to a reduction in COD/BOD levels in the wastewater.

Within two months, we observed a 95% reduction in COD, while BOD was reduced by 93%.

After bio-augmentation, MLSS levels were also significantly improved in the biological system. There was no more fluctuation in MLSS levels, and the desired MLVSS: MLSS level of 0.7 was attained and maintained steadily.

Before the addition of CleanMaxx, MLSS was in the range of 2000-2200 mg/lt. After treatment, MLSS levels rose up to the range of 4000-4300 mg/lt, and MLVSS was in the range of 2550-3000 mg/lt.

And lastly, our treatment was also effective in significant levels of odour removal.

After all, this was not just a routine project we were on here. This was all about ensuring the taste of India.