Ghana Nuts Limited inaugurates €500,000 effluent treatment plant
Ghana Nuts Limited (GNL), producers of Akoma soya bean oil, on Thursday inaugurated a 500,000 – Euro Effluent Treatment Plant, with a 25,000- litre capacity to recycle industrial waste water.
AWAS International of Germany, which specialises in the treatment of industrial wastewater containing hydro-carbons, collaborated with GNL to install the plant.
Speaking at the ceremony Mr Prince Obeng Asante, Deputy Managing Director of GNL said the primary activity of the company GNL; established in 2001 was the manufacturing and exportation of soya beans, groundnuts, shea nuts and sesame to Europe, India and Japan.
He said since January 2006, the company has been manufacturing premium quality soya bean oil and soya bean meal with a state-of-the-art solvent extraction and refinery plant.
Mr Asante said the company’s soya bean oil is exported to Burkina Faso, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire, while its soya bean meal with the brand name ‘poultry master’ is made available to feed mills as well as poultry and livestock in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
The Deputy Managing Director explained that environmental protection is fundamental to GNL’s vision.
“We therefore pioneer technologically advanced processed to engage mother-nature to provide healthy and high quality products to our customers in Ghana and abroad,” he added.
Mr Asante said the company has the dream to train products of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), personnel of Environmental Protection Agency and other affiliated organisations at the plant to grow in knowledge and wisdom about environmental protection.
“This has even become more critical because we have found crude mineral oil in commercial quantities in the country.”
Mr Asante said the company has an ultra filtration water plant as part of the package and intends to use the facility to provide drinking water in rural communities.
“AWAS has the state of the art technology to ionize water to enhance human health.”
Mr Roland E. Konietz, Sales Manager of AWAS, said the company is focussed on the protection of the environment and resources and therefore “treat waste water under consideration of energetic and self-cleaning processes as efficient as possible.
Mr Alex Kofi Kyereme, Techiman Municipal Chief Executive noted in a speech read on his behalf that the plant would help ease the environmental problems in the area.
Dr Oduro Kwarteng of the Civil Engineering Department of KNUST expressed the hope that “AWAS and the University would work out modalities for developing innovative wastewater plants for the oil and petrochemical industries to cope with the future challenges of industrial growth”.
Nana Bafour Asare Twi Brempong, Adontenhene of Techiman Traditional Area who presided, commended the company for the plant, the first of its kind in West Africa and urged Management it to strive to accomplish more feats.
Source: GNA