CST Wastewater Solutions, one of Australia’s leading wastewater treatment companies, has recently installed a gut washer at Thomas Foods International (formerly T&R Pastoral), Murray Bridge, South Australia.
The latest gut washer technology, which is broadly applicable to meat and agricultural industries across Australia, is configured to wash and then flush digested matter from cut paunch material, producing a better grade of tallow and added value for Thomas Foods. A combination of mutton and beef is washed at a rate of approximately 10,600kg per hour from the abattoir’s daily processing.
Gut washing is a standard meat industry practice, however, it is common to use 6-12mm trommel screens, which simply drain the cut gut with no consideration given to washing.
With the CST gut washer, the cut gut is fed via a transition chute to the rotary screen/gut washer which consists of an external entry swirl chamber with 2 off-set flanged recycled wash water inlets. The cut gut is then swirled with 10 times its volume of water. The swirl water used can process water, including kill floor and chiller water.
On entry to the screen, this water is removed for further recycling before the solids are then sprayed via the product wash sparge arrangement with fresh water before final dewatering.
CST Wastewater Solutions’ gut washer utilises a 2.8mm wedgewire gap on the screen to optimise washing and flushing.
“Thomas Foods International is very happy with the performance of the unit and the efficiency it provides,” says CST Wastewater Solutions Sales Manager, Mr Peter Bambridge.
“The unit is made with guarding for safety and improves the downstream results, which is highly beneficial to Thomas Foods,” Mr Bambridge said.
“The capture rate is much better and the washing results in a cleaner, higher quality product. This leads to more easily sold by-products such as tallow and meat meal,” he explains.
CST Wastewater Solutions has installed many screens throughout the Meat Industry with over 20 years of process and application knowledge.