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Chocolate Factory Helps Environment to Have a Break

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chocolate-183543_1280A chocolate factory in the United Kingdom has been running a 200 kW generator for at least a year now by feeding it candy.  Well, sort of.

Nestlé’s factory in Fawdon, UK feeds 200,000 liters of waste and wash water per day plus 1,200 MT per year of residues and other waste into in a digester that treats the effluents and yields biomethane.  The biomethane then goes into the 200 kW combined heat and power (CHP) generator.

So far, the factory has used the system to generate 8% of the factory’s total power requirement, resulting in cost savings of £100,000 (about US$ 157,000) last year.  Prior to the installation of the biodigester, the wastes of the factory were either dumped down the drain or fed to the pigs, which was obviously a tremendous waste.

After the successful run, the system developer, Clearfleau of Berkshire, was able to register the system for the Feed in Tariff.  As a result, the factory will receive annual payments of about £250,000 (US$ 392,000 approximately) for running the chocolate powered CHP.

In addition to the energy cost savings, the company was also able to reduce the adverse environmental impacts.  The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of its waste water effluent, as well as the methane gas emissions were reduced.

It’s great that a chocolate factory is giving the environment a break by giving it a Kitkat, isn’t it?

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