Movicon SCADA Helps
Creamery Generate Power From
Cheese Waste
A new anaerobic digestion plant built
of premium Cumbria cheddar from its
of on-site treatment solutions for
by Lake District Biogas at First Milk's
creamery in Aspatria, Cumbria.
the food and beverage sector. The
Aspatria creamery site in Cumbria
has been installed to generate biomethane. It is producing over £3m per
year in cost savings, while supplying
up to 25% of the creamery's energy
requirements. Providing full control
and visualisation of the system is a
Movicon SCADA solution provided by
Committed to minimising its
environmental impact and lowering
its energy requirements, First Milk
has long had an aerobic plant at the
Aspatria facility. However when the
company faced the need to upgrade
in order to reduce effluent treatment
process takes feedstock from the
creamery, comprising low strength
wash waters such as process rinses,
supplemented by cheese production
residue. This liquid is pumped into the
anaerobic digestion plant from the
creamery where it is converted into
biogas, which is stored in a gas dome
Products4Automation.
costs and lower its carbon footprint, it
With four creameries around the
site anaerobic digestion plant for its
country, First Milk is the UK's only
production residues. First Milk worked
major dairy company owned by British
with funding partners to set up Lake
farming families. It supplies the retail,
District Biogas to own and operate the
A key consideration in the design of
food service and milk markets with
plant.
the plant was the choice of control
a wide range of dairy products and
ingredients, including a number of
regional cheeses. Most recently First
Milk has launched the Lake District
Cheese Company, producing a range
12 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk
investigated the potential for an on-
The result of this was the installation
of a brand new anaerobic digestion
plant, designed and commissioned by
Clearfleau, a leading British provider
until it is required. It is then fed into a
membrane based upgrade unit that
removes carbon dioxide from the gas
to produce bio-methane.
system, and Clearfleau opted for the
Movicon SCADA solution provided
by Products4Automation (P4A),
with the control and visualisation
platform developed and installed