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Diamond Foods (Kettle Foods)

Salem, OR

Diamond Foods, known for its Kettle Chips brand potato chips, processes around 100,000 pounds of potatoes at its Salem facility every day, seven days a week. Already in compliance with City of Salem discharge requirements, Diamond Foods looked to Aquarius Environmental (AE) to optimize its wastewater pretreatment systems. The implemented changes helped improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the facility’s effluent treatment and reduce monthly wastewater discharge costs.

Providing a concise list of possible near – and long-term alternatives enable Diamond Foods to determine which courses of action to take in balancing cost with potential operational savings.

Among Aquarius Environmental’s implemented suggestions, a 21,000-gallon bolted steel tank added into the treatment system increased the retention of effluent from one to four hours. This now allows engineers to optimize their entire wastewater system to treat a steady, predictable flow of effluent, thereby increasing discharged water quality and decreasing the associated costs.

Key Services

  • Engineering analysis and benchmarking the existing treatment system
  • Cost analysis (return on investment) of potential optimization projects
  • Conducted coagulation/flocculant use evaluation and alternatives assessment
  • Prepared engineering drawings and specifications for the detention tank including specification of pumps, instruments and mixers
  • Developed a system monitoring tool using statistical process control philosophy that integrated with existing plant automation to enhance client’s ability to assess the systems operational effectiveness


Outcomes

  • Optimal performance and operation of the wastewater treatment system under varied wastewater loading
  • Reduce chemical use and associated operating costs
  • Increased daily wastewater treatment capacity