Water Treatment: Probably the Largest Filter System in the World

What did we do?

With 57 000 t of apples sorted per year, OG FRUBONA is one of the largest fruit cooperatives in South Tyrol. In the course of the new construction in 2018, the FRUBONA board was concerned about saving valuable drinking water and covering a large part of the water consumption from its own wells. Furthermore, the water quality should always be kept at the highest level.  

In 2018, the board of FRUBONA approached Felderer to treat or reuse the well water at the intake on the one hand and the process water in the sorting plant's circuits on the other. The result is a complete solution for process water treatment for apple sorting plants. 

The solution

The water treatment system is modular and consists of different units that perfectly match each other. These modules include 3 filter units and a process for flocculation and sedimentation of the water flows with the highest dirt load. 

The system treats   

• the well water,  
• the individual water circuits of the box emptying,  
• the fillers,  
• the packing,  
• the overflow water,  

• the backwash water of the filter system,  
• dripping water and  
• the water from the box and base washing machines. 

Of course, the Fru-Jet for cleaning the apples and a LEONARDO^TM for defoliating the process water could not be missing from this complete solution. 

The water management in the sorting plant - this includes, for example, the filling and emptying of the tub - is centrally controlled via the Felderer control system. 

The system is a total of 40 metres long and features three individual filter units and a flocculation unit, which is responsible for treating water with an exceptionally high dirt load.