Treatment Plant Protected by Effluent Monitor at Major Drinks Factory

The installation of a Hach Lange (UK) BioTector continuous TOC (Total Organic Carbon) monitor to police the front end of Cobevco’s wastewater treatment plant has enabled tight control of the treatment process. Delivering results 20 times faster than laboratory techniques, the monitor at the Elton facility in Cheshire provides advance notice of organic overload so that the plant is able to instantly divert carbon-rich waste and protect the treatment process.

The recently rebranded Cobevco filling division operates a state of the art bottle filling and wastewater treatment plant at their manufacturing site at Elton in Cheshire, which includes a large biological wastewater treatment facility, operating 24/7 between 3 staggered Sequential Batch Reactors (SBR). This process relies on the activity of bacteria which break down the organic content in the waste stream. However, if the organic load is too strong or too weak, the bacteria are unable to function efficiently, so monitoring is necessary.

Historically, laboratory analysis has taken too long to allow proactive intervention and the ability to measure organic load continuously has not been possible because instruments have been unable to cope with the strength of the effluent without filtration. However, the patented two-stage chemical oxidation process employed by the BioTector completely resolves this problem and has enabled Cobevco to protect the treatment plant and dramatically improve efficiency.