Davidstow is one of the largest Cheese production sites in the UK and produces in excess of 50,000 tonnes per year. The site also produces Demineralised Whey Powder and Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS). In 2019, the owner of the site, Dairy Crest, was acquired by Saputo Inc, one of the top 10 dairy processors in the world. The Dairy Effluent Treatment plant treats around 4,000 m³/day and comprises of primary treatment incorporating screening, balancing and Dissolved Air Flotation. The biological treatment plant is comprised of two mains streams; conventional activated sludge with gravity settlement and a Membrane BioReactor (MBR). A large portion of the treated effluent is further treated through a combined Ultra Filtration (UF) & Reverse Osmosis (RO) system to produce high quality water that is suitable for reuse at the factory.
Since 2016 we have provided a wide range of environmental and wastewater consultancy services to the Davidstow site in the following specific areas:
- Water mapping/water mass balances
- Water and Wastage minimisation audits in all process areas
- Wastewater modelling and forecasting based on proposed production increases
- Chloride, Potassium and Sodium Mass Balances on discharges to surface water
- Wastewater Treatment Plant design services for proposed Effluent Treatment Plant upgrade and new primary treatment system
- Since 2019 we have provided intense retained consultancy services with weekly onsite presence to optimise all aspects of the treatment plant and have supported Davidstow in improving their environmental performance considerably.
