| Cleaner Production at an Ice Cream Factory | Norway | - | Full scale |
MANUFACTURE OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND BEVERAGES # 30
Background:
Norsk Iskrem BA has several production lines for ice-cream. The raw materials are both in liquid and powder form, and are stored in tanks. The raw materials are transported through pipes. There is a cleaning station which cleans of the pipes and the tanks. The washing water with the product remains and detergents are piped to the company's water treatment plant. There is some loss from effluents and leaks from pipes and tank systems. The operations in the production process are mixing, freezing, filling, hardening, packing and storing.
The cleaning of the production equipment is done manually. There are effluents from washing and leaks. The freezing plant is accessible to the production lines. Ammonia is used as the cooling agent. The freezing plant has a heatpump to recover the heat. There are some leaks from the freezing plant. The company has a laboratory for bacteriological and chemical analysis. The waste from the laboratory is deposed.
The company has 80 employees and a turnover of 110 million NOK.
Economics were the driving force to implement the cleaner production measures. It helped the company to reduce their operational costs and reduce the impacts on the environment.
Cleaner Production Principle:
Process modification; Housekeeping
Cleaner Production Application:
The following cleaner production measues were carried out:
| A new caramel pump is installed; |
| Sampling of the mix before washing; |
| New washing procedures for the pipe system (product in the pipes is recovered before the washing procedure); |
| Reduced damages during the production; |
| Reduced dust from raw materials; |
| Reduced discharge of detergents (a new washing station is installed); |
| Reduced loss because of leaks and foam (due to overloading of the detergent container); |
| Reduced energy consumption (due to turning off the pumps when not needed) - Sorting of the packing materials; |
| Utilization of empty raw material packing for rejected products; and |
| Bought a press to reduce the volume of cardboard : the following actions have been carried out within the different work groups. |
1. Production
| A new monthly maintenance procedure was adapted to the quality control systems; |
| A procedure for reuse of mix and half finished products was designed; and |
| A new washing station was implemented together with a new procedure for cleaning the machines and pipes. |
2. Finished products
| The conveyor belt for ice-cream sticks was improved to avoid damages during transportation. All the other conveyors are also readjusted; |
| The filling nozzles for the cup machine were improved; |
| The down drop of ice-cream sticks were adjusted; |
| The gluing of crown ice boxes was improved by building a new conveyor and a gluing station (the investment was about 70,600 NOK); and |
| Cartons in the packing machine for ice-cakes were assessed and readjusted and assembling process for a separate procedure for ice cake production was written. |
3. Mix/semiproduct
| Organizing the maintenance procedures; |
| New washing station, new cleaning procedures implemented; |
| Procedures for recycling adopted; |
| Improved the cleaning mechanism for the dust filter. |
4. Cooling/freezing
| New routines for running the machines implemented. |
5. Operation/waste
| Reuse of cardboard, packing used in transportation of waste; |
| Sorting of packing, returning it to the supplier and reuse as transportation packing; |
| New routines for treatment of rejected ice-cream; |
| Obtained a press; and |
| Reducing the volume of the waste. |
The technologies needed to carry out the actions were commercially available, (except an efficient separator for fat).
Environmental and Economic Benefits:
The project resulted in following benefits,
| The costs for returning cardboard were reduced by 1/4, by using a press to reduce the volume. |
| Damages due to transportation was reduced with 30-50% from 2,5% to 1,5%. This is equivalent to 5000 liters of ice-cream or 50,000 NOK/year. |
| New cleaning station has reduced the cost of detergents from 240,000 NOK/year to 180,000 NOK/year. The reduction in costs were 60,000 NOK/year. |
| Reuse of a mix saving 60,000 NOK/year. |
| Savings on packing results in about 60,000 NOK/year. |
Constraints:
None reported.
Contacts:
Review Status:
This case study was submitted by : The Oestfold Research Foundation Institute for Pollution Prevention Box 276 1601 Fredrikstad Norway Tel : + 47 693 41 900 Fax : + 47 693 42 497 e-mail: auduna@telepost.no Contact : Audun Amundsen They were edited by UNEP IE in May 1996.
Subsequently, in September 1998 the case study underwent a technical review by Dr. Prasad Modak, Environmental Management Centre, Mumbai, India.