Maurits van de Water (Van de Water Fruit Group) on Burg MachineFabriek installations

“Water purification installation always worth it for more than ten channels”

The busiest weeks for sorting Sweet Sensation pears have arrived at Van de Water Fruit Group in Waalwijk. The fruit is sorted on a 2x four-track machine from Perfect with Ellips hardware and software, whereby two varieties can be sorted simultaneously. The sorting company has a Burg 3D portal for the supply with fifteen water channels that will soon be dynamically controlled.

In addition to the water dumper, the fruit company also invested in two water treatment plants from Burg in 2018, both a lamella filter at the input of the field crop and a sand filter with UV light on the less polluted side of the line at the pre-sorting. This machine cleans the water channels and the small pack machine.

The BWZ-15 works with a sand / glass filter for fine filtration.

For Maurits van de Water, the choice of water purification was a no-brainer. “During construction, I walked through the hall and saw what we had to clean here every week; that was simply not feasible with fifteen water channels. That is why we investigated the possibilities of water purification and Burg came up with this proposal.”

Although he also researched the possibilities of water purification with suppliers abroad, he nevertheless ended up with the supplier from Kruiningen in Zeeland. “And I am very happy that I bought everything in the Netherlands. In the event of malfunctions and maintenance, it is very pleasant if you can explain what is going on in your own language. In addition, technicians are always at a reasonable distance in order to provide service on level. ”

DE BLS-6 (lamella filter) works by means of pre-filtering with a flocculant dosage and has a lamella package of 6 cubic meters per hour. Both filters have UV disinfection system.

The water purification plant has now been in operation for almost three years and, according to Maurits, is operating satisfactorily. “If I were faced with the choice again, I would do it again. It is not the case that the water purification does not require any attention after installation and runs immediately after installation. It is a process that you work on every day, but after a start-up phase, the whole installation is running smoothly. In terms of maintenance and cleaning, this water purification saves me 16 hours of work per week. But activities such as cleaning the filters have to be kept up to date to keep everything neatly organised. Besides this there is major maintenance performed on the installation once or twice a year.”

The BWZ-15 contains a carbon filter, UV lamps to reduce bacterial growth and a dosage of hydrogen peroxide.

“There are several aspects that ensure that purification, cleaning and energy management run smoothly. For example, each water reacts differently to the purification process and it also makes a lot of difference which products go through the line. When we flood the canals prior to the new season, the water seems less clean than a week later. It goes in yellow in a manner of speaking and after a week it is clear. By purifying the water, the machines and products remain cleaner and we also contribute to less water pollution and waste. ”

In the photo you see the clean water return and turbidity meter.

“I can therefore recommend the installation to everyone. I have advised many fellow packing stations to invest in this, but for some the investment is still too large. Yet I think that for companies with more than ten water channels this is always worth it. If I had to make a choice again, I would do it again immediately,” said Maurits.

He still has his wish list ready for the future. “For these types of machines, the software programs also need a different level of control. That applies across the board, including for flushing the water channels. Make no mistake about how much energy the water pumps require every day.”

Water channels during pre-sorting.

At Burg they see an increasing demand for water treatment plants. “That demand is very broad and comes from Australia, Germany and England, among others. At Van de Water, the combination of apples and pears is a unique one. Water purification for apples is a lot easier, with pears you run a higher risk of the water containing sugars, blocking the process. Fortunately we have gained a lot of experience with this over the last fifteen years,” says Joan van Burg, who expects more and more packing stations and cooperatives to invest in water purification. “If you remove dirt (soil) from water, you also immediately remove chemicals. The peroxide process and the UV module slow down bacterial growth. In short, it saves work, produces a cleaner working environment and a better end product!”

Clean water return to the infeed.