Effluent Tank Upgrade Saves Dairy Manufacturer Energy and Costs

Landia 19/11/2025

293 3 minutes read

Listen to this article

18.5kw landia units — Three 18.5kW Landia units (less than 60kW in total) replaced a 110kW blower at Meadow Foods

Faced with a potential £0.5 million bill for replacing a failing effluent tank at a time when expansion plans remained uncertain, Meadow Foods has seen its dilemma resolved for a fraction of the cost thanks to the expertise of FLI CAP Technology.

The ageing 1,250m3 tank had long been burdened with an inefficient 110kW blower system that consumed excessive energy and, due to numerous breakdowns, failed to deliver the required levels of aeration.

Extending the lifespan of the existing tank for at least two to three years also meant that any new mixing or aeration solution would need to be installed whilst the tank remained fully operational because no standby tank was available for redundancy.

To complicate matters further, cranes could not be used to install new equipment because 11 kilovolt power lines ran directly over the top of the tank.

Chris Woods, FLI CAP Technology’s Divisional Director, commented:

“Our first reaction, to be perfectly honest was ‘how the hell are we going to do this!’, or words to that effect.

“But after looking at multiple lift-out aeration grids that could work off the existing tank’s floor areas, we chose Landia’s Air Jet system. From previous experience we know that their equipment is super reliable and backed by their engineers, offers plenty of options with installation, even for very demanding applications.”

At the same Meadow Foods production site, Landia AirJet and Landia JetMix systems had already been running continuously for seven years on a large balancing tank without causing any downtime. The Landia JetMix works by recirculating the liquid within the tank and creating mixing through nozzles strategically positioned to ensure even-speed distribution. It can also produce concentrated mixing in specific zones, which is particularly advantageous for varying effluent conditions.

Chris Woods continued:

“We started working closely with the team at Landia on how to best tackle the tricky ‘live and tank full’ installation.

no cranes allowed on project — No cranes allowed on this project (!) but FLI CAP Technology and Landia worked closely together to overcome the many challenges

‘The old tank had to remain full’

“With venturi nozzles on each of the Landia chopper pumps that are an integral part of the mixing system, Landia supplied a spike-bottomed guide rail so that the AirJet didn’t need mounting inside the tank. We’d usually much prefer to place the pumps outside the vessel for easy maintenance but this simply wasn’t possible in this case because the old tank had to remain full and didn’t have any flange connections anyway.”

Woods explained that the guide rail for the Landia aerator can be lifted over the edge of the tank without the need for major lifting equipment and that the spike at its base easily secures it firmly in position. Maintenance is straightforward as the units can be lifted out on a winch without interrupting tank operation.

He added:

“We introduced three 18.5kW Landia units, so less than 60kW in total, replacing a 110kW blower so the energy savings are considerable. We’ve also set up the AirJet JetMix with fully automated controls, so when set effluent targets have been met, our customer has the option of using just two of the three mixers at certain times with no drop in aeration levels.

“Costs had also begun to run away with our customer because on top of all the excessive energy being used, they were having to tanker away more than 50% of their inadequately aerated effluent due to its high strength.”

landia jetmix aeration system — Getting ready with the Landia JetMix aeration system

‘Prolonging the life of asset’

He continued:

“The old effluent tank at this site certainly isn’t going to win any beauty contests but with the right approach, we’ve proved what can be achieved by prolonging the life of asset. Our customer is fully back on track, meeting compliance, removing the costly need for effluent to be tankered away and drastically reducing their energy usage.

“With the highly efficient Landia AirJet, our customer now has a very reliable, efficient and long-lasting aeration system that provides great peace of mind.”

Dave Hutchinson, Engineering Manager at Meadow Foods, added:

“Having previously worked with Chris Woods at FLI CAP Technology, we were confident a cost-effective solution would be found. We were delighted when we were offered Landia equipment, as their systems had been used previously at site for effluent aeration with great success. The quality of the equipment and the management of the installation was superb from start to finish. FLI CAP Technology and Landia delivered a high-quality solution with excellent energy savings too.”

www.landiaworld.com
info@landia.co.uk

www.fli-captechnology.com
enquiries@captechnology.co.uk

Contact Details

Landia Ltd

0194 8661 200
info@landia.co.uk
http://www.landia.co.uk
Waymills Industrial Estate, Whitchurch, Shropshire, SY13 1TT GB

About us

Landia's headquarters are located in Lem, which is how it has been since 1933. Today, Landia has subsidiaries in England, Germany, Norway and the US, and a sales office in China. In addition, Landia products are sold in 45 countries worldwide. Landia supplies pumping and mixing solutions to many different industries, with the most important ones being agriculture, wastewater, biogas plants and the fish industry. In general, you will find Landia's products wherever there is a difficult medium to be pumped or mixed. Landia survives by selling quality solutions in close partnership with the customers.

Landia is not a supermarket where customers select products from the shelves. Our technical sales people are always in close discussions with customers, which ensures solutions that work. For Landia, quality in every phase a matter of course, and we have been ISO9001 certified since 1994. Quality also means that many of Landia's products have been in operation for 20-25 years even though the operating conditions may be extreme. In that way, Landia's customers achieve the lowest lifespan costs, while resource consumption is minimised, which further results in a positive impact on the environment.