Western Sugar Cooperative is taking three new measures to deal with the particularly foul odor that has frustrated Fort Morgan, Colo., residents for quite a few months, according to Heather Luther, vice president and general counsel.
One of those is using a very strong commercial deodorizer on the ponds, called Odor Blast, she said, adding that it was "installed Monday." The second is adding a cooling tower for reusing water from the plant, and the third is a new filtration process.
These are the latest in a succession of ideas the plant has been trying to seek to lessen and prevent the odor, which is caused by sugar content left in the water being stored in the plant's ponds and bacteria feeding on it and then producing smelly waste from it.
The second step is installing a cooling tower at the plant, which was underway Wednesday, on the bank near the ponds, she said.
Water from operations would go into the cooling tower so that it could be reused at the plant. Currently, the water coming out of the plant is too hot to be reused and has to be discharged in the ponds for cooling and evaporation.
Having that same water go into the cooling tower could allow it to get down to the temperature needed for reuse in the plant, Luther explained.
"We won't have to introduce new water," she said. "It will help us recycle that water."
It also could mean not adding very much or even any more water to the ponds in coming weeks and months, even though some aspects of production - not full production - will continue at the plant through the rest of the summer. That production schedule will only have a two-week break in September, according to Luther.
And any water that would be added to the ponds likely would have far less sugar content in it due to the third step being taken at the plant.
"Two weeks ago, we changed our filtration process," Luther said.
While she did not get into the technical specifics of that change, she said it should result in less total water coming off the beets and less sugar remaining in that water.
"The filtration process should help greatly reduce the amount of sugar added to the ponds," Luther said.
Between the latest three steps Western Sugar has taken, the hope is that the odor in Fort Morgan will be greatly reduced or even eliminated, but now everyone has to "wait and see if it is working," she said.
Source: www.fortmorgantimes.com