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Sustainable water use in the poultry industry

PRESS RELEASE Boxmeer, June 25, 2019


Treated water reused for irrigation purposes in the desert


Sustainable water use in the poultry industry 


Sustainability is a subject that is on everybody’s lips today. The poultry industry is making many efforts to tackle this issue and comes up with various solutions concerning energy saving, CO2 footprint, food safety, traceability and water use. For responsible water use, Marel Poultry offers solid practical solutions. One clear example of this is the Mazzraty poultry processing plant in Qatar, equipped with a well thought-out water management system.

 

Chicken production has a naturally low carbon footprint and requires a limited amount of resources, such as fertilizer, land and water. Using 2,000 liters of water to produce 1 kilo of chicken meat, poultry production needs a fairly modest amount of water. Just to compare, 1 kilo of chocolate uses 17,000 liters of water.

 

Water isn't lost

However, water use doesn’t mean that this water is lost. Recycling options are available to treat the water and make it fit for renewed use. The poultry industry has elaborated solutions for this. Mazzraty in Qatar called in the help of Marel Water Treatment to set up today’s most modern water treatment installation. This poultry facility is located in the desert, where nothing grows, so Mazzraty is highly aware of the importance of clean water in these circumstances.

 

Treatment

Water Treatment starts already in the poultry processing plant. All water used for transport, for cleaning and for the various stages of processing, is collected and drained to the waste water treatment facilities. In the first phase, the physical pretreatment takes out fat material and larger coarse parts. After that, the biological process in a big basin decomposes the pollution and converts it to biological sludge and purified water.

 

Irrigation

In the direct surroundings of Mazzraty’s poultry processing plant, four large green circles in the middle of the yellow sand plain catch the eye. This is irrigated land, made fertile with the help of Mazzraty’s treated water. Besides being used for truck washing, the purified water is excellently fit for artificial irrigation of areas that are otherwise dry land. Mazzraty manages to drive four center pivot systems with this recycled water to irrigate four quarter sections (each 800x800m). The company grows mainly grass, which they can use in their feed mills.

 

Lowest impact

Mazzraty’s facility has been designed to not waste or leave behind residual material and all activities aim at causing the lowest possible impact on the environment. The reuse of cleaned waste water from the factory as irrigation water is part of Mazzraty’s bigger environmental plan, which also involves a reduced CO2 emission and production of their own chicken feed. In this way, Mazzraty demonstrates one of the most sustainable ways of working in the poultry industry.

 

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More information: marel.com/water-treatment

 

 

Picture caption:

Mazzraty uses treated water to irrigate the desert land surrounding the poultry processing plant in Qatar.

 

Download here the high- resolution image accompanying this press release.


 

 

   

More on Marel Poultry 

Marel Poultry is the leading global provider of advanced food processing systems and services, supplying innovative inline solutions for broilers, turkeys and ducks for all process stages and all capacity levels. The product range includes top quality equipment for live bird handling, up to evisceration, giblet harvesting and processing, chilling, grading, cut-up, deboning, bone detection, portioning, batching, end-product logistics, software solutions and service contracts.

 

 

Contacts

Martijn WIllems

martijn.willems@marel.com

Phone: +31485586636