North Water process water plant makes Avebe more sustainable

A year after the signing of the contract between North Water and AVEBE, the new process water plant was commissioned. With this process water plant, AVEBE was able to improve the quality of the water that comes into contact with starch products in the various processes. Moreover, this represents a first step towards sustainable operations: previously, AVEBE used both ground and surface water for its operations. With the new North Water process water plant, only surface water is being used from now on. This results in environmental advantages while drying out is prevented.

The new process water plant from North Water has a processing capacity in excess of 600 cubic metres of water per hour, and will produce about 3 million cubic metres of process water a year. The building of the new process water plant and the accompanying infrastructure involve a total investment of around 10 million euros.

AVEBE is a season-based organisation, which means that the demand for water is substantially higher than normal during the potato harvesting season. The design takes those differing capacities into account. In view of the potato harvesting season that starts in August of each year, the construction of the new plant had to be completed by 1 August 2009 at the latest.

The technology for the new process water plant has been especially designed to treat surface water originating from Stadskanaal. The process water produced will therefore be of approximately the same quality as normal drinking water. The high quality process water will be used not only for AVEBE's starch products, but will also be suitable for use as feed water for the heat and power plants present on the site.

The technical design is based on fully automated operation, producing water 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, for AVEBE's various operational processes. North Water will be responsible for day-to-day operations, exploitation and maintenance. By entering into this partnership with North Water AVEBE has secured the long-term quality of the water supply at the Ter Apelkanaal location while taking an important step towards sustainable operations at the same time.