Procordia Food AB, Eslöv - Sweden

Procordia Food is one of the leading manufacturers of food products in Sweden, producing primarily pizzas, ready meals, pickled vegetables, fruit and berry products, sauces and potato products, with strong brand names like Felix, BOB, Ekströms, Önos, Risifrutti™....

With 1350 employees Procordia produces 200,000 tons/yr of food products with a 300 M€ turnover. The Eslöv site has 800 employees and produces a wide range of ready-made meals as well as processed vegetables and potatoes.

The wastewater, originally discharged to the municipal plant, contained large amounts of suspended solids, organic compounds, phosphorus and nitrogen, which resulted in a high loading for the municipal treatment plant despite the wastewater being pre-treated.

The objective was to reduce the load of the effluents discharged to the municipal facilities by 90 %.

Krüger, a Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies' subsidiary, designed a new pre-treatment plant to reduce the load discharged to the municipal wastewater treatment plant.

Krüger knew from experience that the pollutants would be, therefore, difficult to treat with traditional settling or flotation. Krüger proposed a package plant version of its innovative, compact and efficient clarification process, Actiflo™. The plant was installed downstream of the existing pre-treatment plant, offering high removal efficiencies. 

The treatment plant has a very small footprint due to the efficiency of Actiflo™. Consequently, the entire treatment plant is able to fit into a 230 m² building.

The Actiflo™ technology easily handles the variations in the effluent characteristics, which are caused by the seasonal variation in the prodution and in the types of vegetables processed. One of the main advantages of Actiflo™ is its stability during peak load variations.

The Actiflo™ package plant was the optimum solution ; offering quick installation, easy transportation and limited investment.

The Actiflo™ technology combines chemical coagulation, flocculation and lamella settling, based on the formation of ballasted flocs using microsand. This allows rapid settling with removal of up to 95% of Total Suspended Solids.
The installation fits into a building of 230 m², approximately 50 times smaller than a conventionnal clarifier.

The sludge produced in the Actiflo™ process is thickened to a dry solids content of 4-5% and pumped to the wastewater treatment plant digester, thus additionally avoiding any overloading of the sludge treatment line.