No more crying over spilt milk
October 1st 2007 Bradshaw Consulting specialises in
Energy and Process loss reduction
in the Food and Drink sector. Its
client Dairy Crest operate a large
dairy processing site near Stroud in
Gloucestershire and with the help
of the Dairy Crest Improvement
team (Chemical Engineers)
Bradshaw has developed and
installed an effluent monitoring
and analysis system incorporating
the Micronics SLT32 – Ultrasonic
Non Contact open channel flow
measurement system.
The purchase of the new turnkey
system and meters was driven by a
need to provide online product
wastage information from the
various departments and further
reduce milk wastage from the site.
Having considered various
measurement alternatives,
Ultrasonic Non Contact meters were
selected due to the ease of
installation and maintenance/
service benefits associated with the
non-contact technology.Micronics
was selected as the supplier due to
a combination of its experience with
open channel flow measurement
technology and its pricing in
comparison to similar technology
solutions or alternatives requiring
considerable civil construction work.
Three Micronics SLT32 meters were
purchased as a package.The meters
have the capability to measure and
log effluent flow and totalised flow;
however, in this application they are
providing flow data via a 4 to 20mA
signal to the system's separate
control system.
The meters have been installed at
three known process discharge
points to assess effluent discharge
rates assuming flume characteristics.
The Bradshaw system also analyses
the effluent milk content to identify
the milk wastage using a volume x
turbidity (~ COD mg/l) calculation,
which is further, analysed in terms of
real time and day total data within
the site SCADA system. Site staff are
able to monitor live effluent
discharge rates, initiate action to
investigate potential reductions in
process milk wastage and view the
results in real time or daily values.
And in doing so they are able to
identify and drive down milk
wastage and effluent costs using
M&T techniques in line with best
practice.
Improved measurement and
visibility has enabled Dairy Crest to
improve the plant's performance
and as a consequence less product
is being wasted and therefore less
effluent is being discharged.
The potential for system
expansion on-site is circa 50% and
there is significant potential for
replication on other sites across the
Dairy Processing industry. More articles from Micronics Ltd: | 
