summary
With three production sites, LambWeston/Meijer is a major producer of potato products in the Netherlands. Good fries demand a high quality of not only potato's but water too. Water is an essential product in a number of production steps.
LW/M uses approximately 2 million m3 water per year at its biggest production facility of the Netherlands in Kruiningen (province of Zeeland). The majority of this water is made up of process water that is being produced from river water. Evides Industriewater supplies this water from its tailor-made process water treatment plant, that has been erected in 1996 and operated since by means of a longterm DBFO contract.
process water for a food application
Since 1992 LW/M has been prooving that drinking water is not strictly mandatory for the production of food products. After extensive trials and with the approval of the relevant Dutch authorities LW/M started replacing drinking water by process water, which was produced from river water supplied by Evides from its vast Biesbosch reservoirs.
Due to the ever increasing demand of process water and the wish to concentrate on its core activities, LW/M approached Evides Industriewater to construct a new PWTP (process water treatment plant) in order to take care of the production and supply of process water.
After various tests a process design has been established that includes coagulation (through dosing of ferrous), double-layer filtration and UV-disinfection on the Biesbosch feed-water.
project details
At a capacity of 250 m3/hr the PWTP produces highly reliable process water that is being applied as transportation water, washing/rinsing water and blanching water at the Kruiningen production plant of LW/M. The quality complies with the regulations of all applicable Dutch authorities (such as the Voedsel- en Waren Autoriteit).
| Suspended solids [mg/l] |
< 1 |
| Turbidity [FTU] |
< 1 |
| pH |
8-9 |
| Salinity [µS/cm] |
< 600 |
| Chlorides [mg/l] |
< 70 |
| Sulphates [mg/l] |
< 80 |
| Total hardness [mmol/l] |
1.5 - 1.65 |
| Colony counts 22 ºC [counts/ml] |
< 100 |
| E-coli / Enterecoccus / C. perfringens [counts/100 ml] |
< 1 |
As a result of the replacement of drinking water by high-quality and reliable process water in those parts of the production process that do not strictly demand the quality of drinking water, LW/M contributes to the sustainability of its production process. Additionally, this change from drinking water to process water resulted in substantial cost savings. Finally, the outsourcing of the production of process water to Evides Industriewater resulted in an organisational advantage: LW/M now can focus on its core-activity of processing potatos by relying on the expertise of a waterproducer that is used to supply water-on-demand to its clients as its core-activity.