GEA Westfalia Separator South Africa fits West Coast Winery with Waste Water Decanter
The UCD 205 decanter from GEA Westfalia Separator Group is a continuously operating horizontal solid wall centrifuge, with an open design frame with gravity discharge of the clarified phase, and is used for industrial as well as municipal wastewater sludge dewatering.
GEA Westfalia Separator South Africa – a subsidiary of GEA Westfalia Separator Group, the global leader in the field of mechanical separation technology – recently supplied South Africa’s largest producer of organic wines with a decanter. Privately owned by the Rossouw brothers with a 26% shareholding by its cellar workers, Stellar Organic Winery on the West Coast Wine Route is renowned for its environmentally friendly production practices.
“The decanter UCD 205 from GEA Westfalia Separator Group is a continuously operating horizontal solid wall centrifuge, with an open design frame with gravity discharge of the clarified phase, and is used for industrial as well as municipal waste water sludge dewatering. The small decanter is easy to install, easy to operate and maintain and allows for easy retrofitting due to its low space requirement,” explains Annarie Lloyd, Sales Engineer, GEA Westfalia Separator South Africa.
Stellar Organic Winery recently acquired a second processing facility near Vredendal and is currently retrofitting the former KWV-owned grape juice concentrate and distilling wine plant. The facility features a custom built waste water treatment plant and it is here that the decanter UCD 205 will be installed.
“At our Trawal facility, which we acquired in 2001, we have a settling pond to screen solids from the waste water in our facility. The water goes through aeration and an effective micro-organism treatment before being used for irrigating the vineyards. The sooner in the process we screen the solids in the water, the higher the oxygen content of the water is and the less processing it needs. With the advancement in technology and in line with our strategy to constantly looking at ways to improve on our processes, we have been in the market for a reliable wastewater decanter,” explains Willem Rossouw, Chief Executive Officer and co-owner of Stellar Organic Winery. GEA Westfalia Separator Group was chosen to supply in this need.
”Although we have not used decanters from GEA Westfalia Separator Group before, we trust the brand’s reputation in the industry as being one of the best suppliers of decanting equipment for our purposes,” says Rossouw.
The decanter, fully manufactured in Germany, is expected to be installed and commissioned at Stellar Organics Winery Vredendal by mid-February and will produce a steady stream of 3 000 litres of water per hour, 24 hours a day.
Stellar Organics Winery currently produces 10,000 tons of grapes per year, and hopes to push production up to 24,000 tons with its new facility. It was the first organic winemaking operation in the world to win the coveted Fairtrade certification; the first cellar in Africa to produce commercially viable no-sulphur added wines and is currently the number one organic wine brand in the United Kingdom. The grapes are drawn from farms spanning the northern boundary of the Olifants River wine region and Namaqualand and red, white and rosé wines from most popular cultivars, including sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, muskadel, merlot, pinotage, shiraz and colombard, are produced.
Enquiries:
Taryn du Plessis
GEA Westfalia Separator South Africa
Midrand
Tel: (011) 805 6910
Fax: (011) 805 6911
E-mail: taryn.duplessis(at)geagroup.com