New water treatment for Aurora Coop Guatambu

“Installation of these stations has marked a milestone in the cooperation’s history, showcasing technological advances and the adoption of new concepts expected to be copied in future installations,” says Aurora Coop’s Sustainability Coordinator, Luciana Frassetto de Campos Breda. This is the fourth project that Aurora has done with Marel, who also installed a system at the Xaxim (SC) facility.

Stricter than the law

In addition to pollution control, implementation of the new treatment stations ensures sustainable development, combining economically significant activities for the region with environmental preservation and the promotion of social values. “Stricter discharge parameters than those required by law, the use of imported technology, automation, greenhouse gas reduction and effluent re-use at the station itself reinforce the important values of Aurora Coop, such as ethics, quality, trust, and sustainability,” says Luciana Breda.

Award

Thanks to this initiative, in August 2023, Aurora Coop received the 24th Fritz Müller Award in the Pollution Control category. Supported by the state government of Santa Catarina through the Institute of the Environment (IMA), this award recognizes companies and organizations undertaking environmental projects in the state.

“The projects at these units have yielded excellent results: greater efficiency, strict operational control, operational flexibility, reduced footprint, and significant and satisfactory improvements in the treated effluent outcomes,” emphasizes Luciana Breda.

Guatambu – a benchmark for Latin America

The partnership between Aurora Coop and Marel began in 2019 with very successful results. Years later, Aurora Coop decided to expand the production capacity of the Guatambu poultry processing facility. This expansion aimed to provide purified water of the highest quality to the environment and the local community. It is not surprising that Aurora Coop once again chose Marel’s water treatment system for this endeavor.

According to the Sustainability Coordinator, this decision was influenced by the robustness of Marel’s equipment, the technologies applied, expertise of the technical team, and positive experiences obtained previously. The project was developed in collaboration between the Engineering teams of Aurora Coop and Marel, with Marel’s technicians supervising the assembly and startup phases. As a benchmark for the poultry processing industry in Latin America, the Guatambu industrial plant started operations in the first quarter of 2024.

A successful technological partnership

The history of the partnership between Aurora Coop and Marel began when the cooperative chose to install a water treatment system at the pork processing plant of Frigorífico Aurora in Chapecó in 2019. “During expansion of the Chapecó processing plant, we were looking for a supplier of a wastewater treatment solution that could support our growth plans. We found that with Marel, and we also immediately understood that the performance would be far superior to our existing system,” says Luciana Frassetto de Campos Breda.

Safe to be released

With the Marel system, Aurora Coop pre-treats effluent from the red lines (blood, oils, fats, and solid and liquid process waste) of the Chapecó plant in coagulation, flocculation and flotation (DAF) processes, removing fats and other substances. This pre-treated water is treated again in an activated sludge biological system. After the disinfection process, the purified clean water is safe to be released into the environment.

Company website: auroracoop.com.br