It takes a lot of water to secure the highest standards of quality and food safety at Arla Foods Ingredients’ two biggest production plants – Danmark Protein and ARINCO – which operate at neighbouring locations in Denmark. High water consumption also leads to large volumes of wastewater. As both plants expand to meet growing demand, water management is essential.
Investments in technical water
Major investments in a technical water facility today play a central role in our efforts to reduce well water use and wastewater discharge. The facility is placed close to the treatment plant that receives the wastewater discharge from our two production plants and the Arla Foods Nr. Vium dairy.
Operation began in late 2021, when the wastewater treatment plant began sending cleaned wastewater to the facility, where it undergoes further advanced filtration, upgrading it to so-called technical water. At this quality level, the water is suitable for reuse.
Plans for expansion
The current daily capacity is 500m3, which is fed back to Danmark Protein for use in the cooling towers. Other non-food contact applications will be hooked up to the technical water supply in the near future.
We are now planning the next expansion up to 900m3 a day – a step on the way to the maximum daily recycling capacity of 2,000m3, which is equivalent to around half of Danmark Protein’s current consumption of well water.
