New filters installed at Beacon Foods’ expanded water treatment plant

Beacon Foods has installed new replacement filters in the company’s water treatment processing plant in Brecon, following a six-month wait for materials and dry weather.

The family-owned company, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of ingredients and ready-to-eat products, invested £250,000 on expanding its water treatment capacity last year as part of a £6 million, three-year expansion programme.

The new Kubota RM100 filters, which were imported from Japan, replaced the originals which had been operating successfully since being installed in 2008. A crane towered above the water treatment works as contractor Dynamic Water Solutions from Walsall lowered the new filters into place.

The original design flow rate of the works was up to 70 cubic metres per day. Since the installation of a new 500 cubic metre aerated buffer tank, a 40 cubic metre dewatering sludge tank and now the new sets of filters, Beacon Foods will be able to discharge around 100 cubic metres per day.

“The discharge quality is excellent and we get very good results in reducing chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), nitrogen and suspended solids,” said chairman Edward Gough.

“We monitor our discharge very closely and opted to replace the old filters to maintain and improve quality standards. We had originally planned to install the new filters in March but had to reschedule due to the ground conditions being so wet.

“In the meantime, we have been tankering the waste away from our site to the sewage works which has been an extra cost. With the new filters in place, there will be no need for the tankers which is good news all round.”

Employing a workforce of 155, Beacon Foods has also invested in 1,428 solar PV panels which can produce up to 500,000 kilowatts of electricity for the company’s factories and for the National Grid at weekends.

The company has doubled its manufacturing capacity in the last three years by investing in state-of-the-art machinery.

Established in 1993, Beacon Foods is the UK’s leading specialist producer of garlic, ginger and chili puree,  bespoke recipes of ready to eat, IQF (individual quick frozen roasted and char grilled vegetables and fruit, relishes, chutneys, sauces and fruit. Products can be supplied in various packaging formats, including small sachets and dip pots.

The ingredients go into literally thousands of products, including sandwiches, ready meals, pizzas, soups, drinks and desserts, which can be found on supermarket shelves, airlines, restaurant chains and coffee shops.