P&H Senesac, Author at P H Senesac, Inc.

There are a number of challenges associated with the food manufacturing industry. Certainly, food manufacturers must be diligent to guarantee high-quality products that are desirable to consumers. And of course, there are regulatory concerns to keep in mind, ensuring compliance with all applicable food safety laws.

These concerns all come to bear when selecting food manufacturing equipment. The machinery you employ must be sanitary and easy to clean. It must be capable of creating a good product, and it must be able to keep pace with production goals.

These concerns should be top-of-mind any time you buy new food manufacturing equipment, whether you’re getting that equipment brand new or you’re buying it used. Be sure you inspect and vet any piece of machinery very carefully before purchasing it.

There are a few considerations that are particularly relevant when looking at used machinery. Here are some of the top examples.

Key Factors to Think About When Buying Used Equipment

1) Product Handling Considerations

In order to preserve the quality and integrity of your products, you need machinery that handles good items smoothly and gently. Your equipment also needs to be the appropriate size and shape to prevent any degradation to the good products that it manipulates.

Keep in mind that the food manufacturing industry is increasingly shifting toward a machine-driven workforce, meaning there’s less and less chance for human workers to assist with food handling. So, when it comes to the integrity of your products, the equipment you select is of the utmost importance.

2) Cleaning & Maintenance Needs

In any industrial setting, it’s paramount to keep machinery clean and properly maintained. For food manufacturers, this means regular cleaning and sanitation.

Simply put, you need equipment that can be cleaned thoroughly, and you need that cleaning process to be relatively quick and easy.

Some types of equipment can only be fully cleaned when they are disassembled. This would obviously disrupt your production schedule and will likely mean you clean your equipment less frequently. That’s something you’ll want to avoid, and you can do so just by verifying that whatever equipment you buy is easy to maintain.

3) Programming

Any time you buy a new piece of machinery, there’s some chance that the software that it uses is no longer actively supported.

Before you buy any piece of food manufacturing equipment, verify that the equipment’s operating system is not out of date. Also make sure you can easily integrate the equipment with whatever other software you’re using in your facility.

4) Return on Investment

One of the great things about buying used equipment is that you tend to realize a return on your investment, or ROI, sooner rather than later. That’s because you’re getting an efficient piece of machinery for a lower price than if you bought it brand new. As such, shopping for used equipment can often be worth the extra research and due diligence.

Learn More About Buying Used Food Manufacturing Equipment?

Do you have questions about purchasing used food manufacturing equipment? We’d love to chat, and to help you ensure an informed purchasing decision. To learn more, reach out to P&H Senesac at your convenience.

Most of us just take it for granted that we can turn on the faucet any time we want and get clean, drinkable water; and, that whatever water flows down our drain is ultimately returned safely to the environment. In reality, these modern conveniences can be attributed to the diligent work of water engineers and wastewater engineers.

A Closer Look at Water Engineering

Let’s consider each of these disciplines one-at-a-time, starting with water engineering.

Water engineering encompasses all of the steps involved with taking raw water from the ground, from rivers, and from lakes; treating that water to meet public health standards; then storing, distributing, and transmitting that water to homes and businesses throughout the community.

Water engineering benefits all of us, for the simple reason that clean, drinkable water is essential to life. Without a thorough water treatment process, however, raw water is often contaminated, potentially leading to serious disease. Without a rigorous water engineering process, the water we could consume might leave us vulnerable to reproductive health problems, neurological disease, and chronic gastrointestinal distress.

Effective water engineering encompasses a number of steps and processes, among them:

Coagulation and flocculation
Sedimentation
Filtration
Disinfection
Storage
Transmission and distribution

The bottom line: Water engineers ensure that we have water fit for drinking. But what happens to the water that’s flushed down our drains? That’s where we get into the field of wastewater engineering.

A Closer Look at Wastewater Engineering

So what is wastewater engineering? Simply put, this is the process by which wastewater is collected, conveyed, treated, and safely released back into the environment.

There are several important steps involved with this process.

Once water goes down your drain, it gathers in a collection system. The purpose of this system is to collect wastewater from homes and businesses, then to convey it to a wastewater treatment facility.
The wastewater conveyance process is driven by three forces: Gravity, low pressure, and vacuum suction.
Once conveyed to the wastewater treatment facility, the wastewater goes through the primary treatment process, where solid waste is separated out. This is usually done with centrifuge technology.
Once solid waste has been filtered out, the secondary treatment process begins. This involves filtering out any harmful biological material, like phosphorus and various microorganisms.
Additional, tertiary treatment, including disinfection, may also be performed to ensure that the water can safely be released back into the environment.

Once fully treated, wastewater can then be used in industrial and construction applications; provided for irrigation purposes; and more.

Excellence in Water & Wastewater Engineering

Both water engineering and wastewater engineering are important for promoting quality of life, and for ensuring public health. And both fields rely on state-of-the-art technology, such as the sludge dewatering equipment we provide here at P&H Senesac.

We are proud to play a small part in the important fields of water engineering and wastewater engineering. To learn more about the different technologies we provide, we invite you to contact P&H Senesac at your convenience.

Municipal and industrial processes tend to produce a lot of waste. Finding the timeliest, most cost-effective, and most ecologically friendly method of waste disposal can be tricky, but one of the tried-and-true solutions is a process known as sludge dewatering.

Essentially, sludge dewatering is all about minimizing the amount of waste by volume, preparing that waste for efficient disposal. In this post, we’ll provide some insight into how the process works, and also list some of the primary benefits of sludge dewatering. With any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team here at P&H Senesac.

What is Sludge?

Before we get into the dewatering process, it may be helpful to define sludge.

Sludge is basically a semi-solid slurry that can be created as the byproduct of most any industrial or municipal process. Specifically, sludge can often be created during the process of wastewater treatment, before the water can be safely released back into the environment.

How Does Sludge Dewatering Work?

Sludge can be heavy and cumbersome to transport, making effective waste management a challenge. That’s where the dewatering process comes into play. Dewatering is all about concentrating that slurry into a more solid cake. Specifically, sludge dewatering reduces both the weight and volume of waste (as it removes the liquid/water components, leaving just high-solid material). In this form, waste is much easier to transport and dispose of. Thus, waste management is more cost-effective.

What are the Benefits of Sludge Dewatering?

The sludge dewatering process offers a number of benefits. These include:

Waste volume is reduced. As stated above, sludge dewatering is primarily about making it easier and more cost-effective to transport and dispose of waste. This is accomplished by reducing both the weight and the volume of that waste, through the removal of liquids and water.

Transportation costs decrease. As a direct result of the reduced waste volume, transportation costs tend to be more manageable. Simply put, filling a tanker truck with a heavy, semi-solid slurry and then transporting it long distances can be expensive. Loading light, solid cakes onto a truck can be much less costly.

There’s much less risk of spilling or leaking. Something else to keep in mind is that transporting sludge can be a messy business. There is always a pretty high risk of spilling or of leakage. Any kind of mess can be a big problem, especially if the sludge is being transported through a residential area. But the solid cakes created in the dewatering process are consistently dry, averting the possibility of a mess.

Wastewater can be recycled. What happens to the water that’s removed from sludge? Because all the contaminants are filtered out of it, this wastewater can actually be recycled, making this an eco-friendly solution.
There are plenty of ways to automate the process. Finally, note that the sludge dewatering process can be automated, making it simple and efficient to process large amounts of waste on a regular basis. This is especially true when best-in-class equipment is employed, from a skilled sludge dewatering provider like P&H Senesac.

Learn More About Sludge Dewatering from P&H Senesac

For decades, our company has been at the forefront of sludge dewatering technology, providing centrifuges that quickly and efficiently process large volumes of sludge and wastewater. We also offer rapid deployment, full on-site personnel options, and more. Plus, we are committed to implementing equipment in a way that minimizes your downtime.

Ready to learn more about effective dewatering processes, and about the best ways to manage industrial waste? Reach out to P&H Senesac at your next opportunity.

Industrial processes, including wastewater treatment, tend to result in some wasteful byproducts. For example, these processes often create sludge, a semi-solid slurry that can be difficult to transport for disposal. To assist with the waste management process, industrial facilities often engage in a process called sludge dewatering, which filters out solid waste into concentrated cakes. These cakes are much easier and more cost-effective to get rid of.

The sludge dewatering process also results in wastewater, which is the liquid waste that’s extracted from those high-solid cakes. This wastewater can be recycled, which is one of the main benefits of the sludge dewatering process.

Indeed, there are a number of ways in which wastewater recycling can be beneficial.

What are the Advantages of Wastewater Recycling?

1) Reducing environmental impact.

For example, one benefit of wastewater recycling is that it allows industrial facilities to reduce their environmental footprint.

By implementing large-scale filter press technologies, mining and mineral processing companies can effectively manage mine tailings, dry stacking them instead of using tailings ponds. In the process, this allows mining and mineral processing companies to minimize the risk of leaks, wildlife exposure to contaminated water, and more.

2) Minimizing freshwater stress.

There’s always high demand for freshwater… and sometimes, there’s insufficient supply to meet that demand. For example, agricultural companies and landscaping businesses always need large reserves of freshwater to use in their irrigation processes. During seasons of drought, the freshwater market can be particularly stressed. But recycled wastewater is usually perfectly well-suited to meet this demand.

The bottom line? By reusing their wastewater, industrial and municipal organizations can actually contribute to the world’s freshwater supply.

3) Eliminating water transportation needs.

Recycling and reusing wastewater is considered to be a smart business practice, not a waste disposal liability. Indeed, it can help companies become nimbler and more profitable.

Why is this the case? Well, transporting freshwater to offsite facilities can be incredibly pricey. But many companies have discovered ways to recycle wastewater on-site, and then use that recycled water for their own in-house industrial applications. This eliminates the costly and wasteful need for freshwater transportation.

4) Boosting sustainability.

The term sustainability is frequently invoked, but little understood. Basically, it just means meeting the needs of today without compromising the resources available tomorrow.

Recycling wastewater can be a great way to enhance sustainability. Not only does it allow a way to reuse wastewater for future industrial applications, but it also makes it easier for companies to dispose of solid wastes, rather than leaving them on-site where they can potentially become hazardous.

5) Avoiding regulatory issues and fees.

A final benefit to recycling wastewater is that it can help industries and organizations to avoid expensive non-compliance fees.

Simply put, discharging of waste can be difficult, and failure to do it properly may result in the incursion of penalties. One way to avoid the issue altogether is to simply reuse or recycle liquid wastes on-site.

Learn More About Effective Ways to Recycle Wastewater

There are countless ways in which wastewater recycling can be beneficial, not only in helping organizations to meet their environmental goals, but also in making them leaner and more efficient.

To realize any of these benefits, it’s crucial to have the right technology. That’s where P&H Senesac comes into play. For decades, we have been a leading provider of sludge dewatering technology, including best-in-class centrifuges and beyond.

We’d love to tell you more about the tools we can provide for effective wastewater recycling. To start a conversation with us, reach out to P&H Senesac at your next opportunity.

Every type of anaerobic digester mixing system performs a common role. An anaerobic digestion plant plays a key role in turning wastewater treatment facilities into water resource recovery facilities. They maintain proper conditions for microorganisms that help grow methane. There are several types of anaerobic digester mixing systems and dewatering pump rental services, each performing its function in a unique way for the digester cleaning services. Here, we will discuss some of the methods.

Passive Systems

Under passive systems, there is an existing treatment component into which biogas is added.

Covered Lagoon

This system is common because a lagoon requires low maintenance as it captures the biogas beneath an impervious cover. There are two cells needed to perform the function effectively. The first cell is covered while the second cell is uncovered. A lagoon is a digester cleaning system as well as storage. The level of liquid in the second cell should fall and rise to form storage; whereas, the liquid level on the first cell should stay constant to aid the breakdown of manure.

1) Low-Rate Systems

In this system, the manure that flows through the digester is the primary source of creating microorganisms that form methane.

Complete Mix Digester

A complete mix digester is like a tank where manure is mixed and heated with numerous microorganisms. The volume in the digester is displaced with the incoming liquid; subsequently, an equal amount of liquid goes out during digester mixing. The displaced liquid is carried by methane-forming microorganisms.

Plug-Flow Digester

Plug-flow digester works in a similar way as a complete mix digester, that is, the volume in the digester is displaced with the incoming liquid (manure); subsequently, an equal amount of material goes out. The only difference is that the components of the plug-flow digester are thicker and prevent particles from setting to the bottom.

2) High-Rate Systems

Under high-rate systems, the microorganisms that form methane are trapped into the digester in order to improve their efficiency.

Fixed Film Digester

A fixed film digester is accumulated with materials, including small plastic rings and wood chips. These materials are used to produce microorganisms that form methane. The liquid is passed through the materials to create an outflow. This method is also called anaerobic filters or attached growth digesters. The growth of the materials (that looks like slime) used in anaerobic digester mixing systems is called a biofilm.

Suspended Media Digesters

In suspended media digesters, microorganisms are sent out in an upward flow. The liquid flow is set and adjusted to enable smaller particles and debris to flow out while the bigger ones remain inside the digester. Some designs also add artificial media for microbes to form a biofilm, such as sand.

Conclusion

The process of anaerobic digestion is one of the most important components of energy-producing, modern wastewater dewatering treatment facilities. If you are looking for more information or have any queries regarding anaerobic digestion plant or digester cleaning services, please get in touch with us or visit our website.