Bellisio Foods has been feeding families all over the world for more than 50 years. It is a major producer of frozen entrees, including Michelina’s products. Over two million Bellisio meals are enjoyed every day.

Challenge

Bellisio Foods’ main production facility is located near downtown Jackson, Ohio, USA. Rapid growth made Bellisio’s existing wastewater treatment operations unable to keep up with production demands.

Moreover, city surcharges and sludge disposal costs began to soar. Bellisio needed a wastewater treatment technology that would lower its overall operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. It wanted a simple-to-operate system that would generate minimal waste sludge.

Solution

Bellisio’s search led the company to ADI Systems and its low-rate anaerobic ADI-BVF® reactor. ADI Systems was awarded a complete design/build contract for Bellisio Foods’ production facility in Jackson, which included:

• 250,000 gallon influent equalization tank
• 5.25 MG above-ground anaerobic BVF® reactor
• 360,000 gallon once-through aeration tank
• Control building and laboratory
• Standby power generation unit
  
  

Results

The wastewater treatment system meets all of Bellisio’s treatment needs while offering simplicity and affordable O&M costs. The system allows the food manufacturer to consistently meet all of the city’s discharge limits. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) loadings have been at or above design. Effluent is then discharged to the city’s publicly owned treatment works (POTW).

The entire operation is low-maintenance and requires only four hours of monitoring by one plant operator per day. Since it produces very little noise and no foul odor, the wastewater treatment system that ADI Systems designed for Bellisio poses no problems to the neighboring community.

The treatment system has been registered as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project contributing to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This is an industry first in Argentina.