OREANDA-NEWS. October 17, 2012. Nestle USA’s Pizza Division factory in Little Chute, Wis., not only produces some of the best-selling frozen pizza brands in the U.S.—DiGiorno®, Jack's®, California Pizza Kitchen® and Tombstone®—it also produces outstanding results when it comes to water efficiency and related operational savings. The Little Chute plant has reduced its water usage by 7.4 million gallons per year by increasing the performance and efficiency of its cooling towers with help from GE’s (NYSE: GE) advanced water-treatment chemical technology.

As a result of these improvements, the facility has earned GE’s Return on Environment Award. The award recognizes a company for significantly surpassing and improving environmental and operational goals while balancing industrial demands.

Industrial cooling water must meet tight specifications, but Little Chute’s city water is challenging because of its hardness and alkalinity. Standard chemical treatments were unable to treat it adequately because high concentrations produced scaling in the cooling towers, which decreased cooling efficiency and required additional maintenance. Also, an older control system made consistent control of the cooling operation difficult, and it couldn’t be integrated with plant data systems.

GE provided its advanced GenGard* water-treatment chemistry with stress tolerant polymer (STP) and state-of-the-art TrueSense* controls for the plant’s four main ammonia condensers. These products provide precise control of cooling water and enable more cycles where the water-treatment chemicals are in the high concentrations needed for optimum results. As a result, the cooling water at Little Chute is reused to a much greater degree than before, saving 7.4 million gallons of water and reducing sewer discharges by the same amount. This translates into nearly USD 50,000 in cost savings from avoided water purchase costs and discharge fees.

“One of our sustainability goals here at Nestle is to continuously improve water efficiency across our operations and reduce water withdrawals,” said Louis Miller, utilities supervisor at Nestle Pizza Division Little Chute. “Improving the efficiency of the cooling towers is a big step towards achieving that goal.”

Kevin Cassidy, chemical and monitoring solutions (CMS) general manager—water and process technologies for GE Power & Water adds, “Nestle USA’s commitment shows that, increasingly, what’s good for the environment also can be good for business. They’ve proven that being environmentally conscious can improve operating efficiency, conserve scarce natural resources and lead to improved capacity and healthier profit margins. Nestle’s leadership has set an example for others to aspire to and follow.”

* Trademark of the General Electric Company, may be registered in one or more countries.