Project Outline

This project was delivered to facilitate the expansion of milk processing operations by Dale Farm at their Dunmanbridge facility while meeting stringent NIEA discharge consents.

The project comprised the provision of a turnkey solution for the upgrade of their existing treatment plant including additional aeration capacity and a new twin stream membrane treatment process to handle 2,200m³ of effluent each day.

Key Challenges

Key elements of the upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant under the project are as follows:

• Membrane treatment installation for all effluent discharges.
• 2 no. glass lined steel aeration tanks with blowers and diffusers.
• New DAF treatment unit to treat 2,200m³/day of dairy waste.
• Ancillary infrastructure including transfer pumping.
• EICA infrastructure including process instrumentation, control panels and automation of the upgraded facility.

Project Delivery & Innovations

• The process solution was developed in collaboration with GE Power & Water who supplied the membrane technology.
• The upgrade was delivered without interruption to the operation or reduction in performance levels of the wastewater treatment plant.

Key Facts 

Effluent from Dale Farm’s milk processing operations is consistently treated to a very high standard with the plant achieving:

• BOD₅ < 5 mg/l
• COD < 70 mg/l
• Suspended solids < 2 mg/l
• Ammonia < 2 mg/l