C211 - Richmond Group Ltd, Awatoto – Hawkes
Bay region
Summary
The total savings resulting from cleaner production options
implemented at the Richmond Awatoto plant are estimated as $155,000
year at a cost of $17,300. The payback for all of the projects
implemented was under 7 months. Savings were made in water and
gas consumption and through reduced disposal costs and improved
product yield.
Business Profile
The Richmond Ltd Awatoto lamb plant is located in Briasco Road at Awatoto in
Napier. The lamb plant was built in 1996 and processes approximately 4,500
animals per day at the height of the season and operates all year round with
the peak of operations occurring in summer.
As a result of the continuing rationalisation of red meat killing
capacity in NZ, the Richmond Awatoto plant was mothballed in
December 1999.
Type of Projects
Water, energy and solid waste reduction.
Reasons for Projects
Richmond Awatoto requires a resource consent to extract water
from the aquifer and as a result of production trends the processing
demand was threatening to exceed the permitted extraction volume.
Consequently one of the key target areas identified by Richmond
Awatoto staff was to reduce the volume of water extracted from
the aquifer, a concern reflected in many of the identified cleaner
production options.
Target Zero
The Richmond Awatoto plant has been a participant in Target
Zero, a two-year sponsored cleaner production programme involving
12 companies in Christchurch and 10 in Hawkes Bay during the
period 1997-1999. The programme was sponsored by the Sustainable
Management Fund of the Ministry for the Environment, Meridian
Energy Ltd (formerly ECNZ), and the local authority and electricity
company in each area.
The Projects
Pelt Washer Water Reduction
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Description
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The pelt washer is used to clean and cool pelts removed
on the slaughterboard by an automatic pelt puller. The
wash is superficial, designed to remove dirt and blood
from the pelt before it is sent off-site for further processing.
The water has historically been supplied by fresh water
drawn from the site bore to wash the pelts. The water also
cools the pelts from 34 C to 17 C to inhibit biological
activity.
The water used in the pelt wash was reduced by:
- Installing a pump to recycle a proportion
of pelt wash water.
- Diverting cooling water from hydraulic
and refrigeration units to the pelt washer
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Environmental Benefit
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The volume of water extracted from the aquifer for pelt
washing and the subsequent amount discharged into the trade
waste sewer has been reduced by an estimated 70%, which
is equivalent to 3% of the total plant water consumption.
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Economic Benefit |
Capital cost $1,000
Savings $2,775/annum
Payback 5 months |
Blood recovery
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Description
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Richmond Awatoto collects whole blood from the sticking
and slaughterboard areas. Previously the collected blood
was not saved for further processing. Blood has a high
COD value, so it represents a significant loading for the
municipal trade waste system. It is also a valuable by-product
that can be dried and sold as blood meal.
The collected blood is now transported 10 miles to the
Richmond Pacific site at Whakatu for processing into dried
blood for subsequent sale.
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Environmental Benefit
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The removal of blood from the trade waste has significantly
reduced the COD and BOD of the effluent discharged from
Richmond Awatoto. This was an important reduction for the
Napier City Council as they plan a new treatment plant,
and in the future for Richmond Awatoto when trade waste
charges will be based on COD and BOD loadings.
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Economic Benefit |
Capital cost $3,144
Savings $12,100/annum
Payback 13 weeks |
Steriliser and Hand Wash Water Use Reduction
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Description
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Export regulations require process workers to sterilise
their knives after each carcass cut using a minimum of
82 C water. Similarly, regulations require process workers
to wash their hands frequently during processing of exposed
meat with 43 C water.
Installing flow restriction devices on each steriliser
and handwash unit to standardise the flowrates on both
types of unit reduced the water use by 25% and the energy
required for heating hot water by 38%.
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Environmental Benefit
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Reduced CO2 emissions by 425 tonnes per year and reduced
water usage and trade waste discharge volumes.
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Economic Benefit |
Capital cost $2,735
Savings $68,340/annum
Payback 2 weeks |
Point-Of-Use Hot Water Cylinder Installation
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Description
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On Saturdays product is loaded out from the chillers.
MAF regulations require that a steriliser and apron wash
facility must operate during this operation. Historically
this has required the sites main boiler to operate to heat
a small amount of water.
It was decided to install small point-of-use hot water
cylinders to avoid the need to run the main boiler. Existing
cylinders were available on-site that were suitable for
this purpose.
Two electric hot water cylinders were installed, one to
provide 82 C water and the other 43 C water.
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Environmental Benefit
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Reduced CO2 emissions by 29 tonnes per year.
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Economic Benefit |
Capital cost $400
Savings $8,000/annum
Payback 3 weeks |
Use of mechanical scrubber to clean chillers
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Description
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Richmond Awatoto has four chillers located on-site. Each
week the chillers are cleaned for hygiene reasons as the
rough cast floor surface allows protein build-up that must
be removed to comply with regulations. Each week 3 staff
clean the chillers which requires the chillers to be emptied,
resulting in down-time.
The purchase of a mechanical scrubber system reduced the
chemical usage and reduced the chiller downtime.
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Environmental Benefit
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Reduced chemical usage and subsequent disposal into the
trade waste system.
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Other Benefits |
Reduced down-time
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Economic Benefit |
Capital cost $2155
Savings $5858/annum
Payback 5 months. |
Boning room condenser
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Description
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In the lamb boning room the cooling system relied on a
cooling tower to help maintain the room temperature below
10 C, as required by MAF. Temperature fluctuations within
the room lead to extended periods of downtime due to the
temperature exceeding permitted levels.
To improve the situation a condenser unit was installed
in the lamb boning room |
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Environmental Benefit
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Reduced chemical usage and subsequent disposal into the
trade waste system and a lower volume of water was required
through the cooling tower to keep the boning room at the
required temperature.
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Other Benefits |
The temperature fluctuations were greatly decreased resulting
in significantly less plant downtime. |
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Economic Benefit |
Capital cost $6,000
Savings $28,540/annum
Payback 3 months |
Pet-food chutes
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Description
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Pet food product is recovered from the boning room off
a belt-conveyor leading directly to a pre-breaker. On occasions,
due to processing requirements, material suitable for petfood
is diverted to condemned material containers that also
receive contaminated material that is unsuitable for petfood.
As a result significant amounts of petfood material are
downgraded to being only suitable for rendering, with a
consequent loss in value.
The bone removal chutes were redesigned to minimise the
amount of pet-food grade material sent to the condemned
material containers. This reduced the number of bins to
be cleared and increased the revenue from pet-food. |
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Environmental Benefit
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Reduced amount of downgraded material reduced the additional
resources used in additional (rendering) processing.
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Economic Benefit |
Capital cost $1900
Savings $29,370/annum
Payback 1 month |
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For additional information contact:
Gordon Harrison
Richmond Ltd
PO Box 940
Hastings
Ph (06) 878 6464
Fax (06) 876 0586 |
For further information about the Target Zero programme
see following publication:
- You too can profit from cleaner production
and waste minimisation
- Coordinating cleaner production programmes.
Lessons from Target Zero
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