CarboNet chemistry: Plug-and-play wastewater treatment for meat & dairy

Chicken nugget simplicity, prime rib results.

Meat and dairy wastewater shifts with every washdown, CIP cycle, and batch change. One minute it’s protein-rich and foamy, the next it’s loaded with fat or cleaning agents. CarboNet chemistry is designed to handle that variability—without constant adjustments, overdosing, or clogged equipment.

Why it matters: Meat and dairy wastewater isn’t just hard to treat—it’s hard to treat consistently. Operators are juggling foam, fats, proteins, and chemicals that change by the hour. When your chemistry can’t keep up, you pay for it in fines, sludge, callouts, or all three.

CarboNet’s chemistry resolves these issues:

Clearer water, fewer callouts. Our chemistry performs across flow swings, FOG spikes, and pH drift—keeping water within spec even when production changes. That means fewer support calls, fewer failures, and fewer headaches for whoever’s responsible, whether it’s a plant team or a service contractor.

Better floc, smaller dose. SimpleFloc flocculants use NanoNet technology to bind tighter, drain faster, and outperform traditional polymers at a fraction of the dose. That means less sludge to haul and fewer chemical deliveries.

Coagulants that make the system work. SimplePrime coagulants prep the water for floc formation—neutralizing charge, reducing TSS, and helping stabilize swings in organic load. Blended formulas reduce sludge and improve downstream performance without wrecking pH.

No make-down? No problem. SimpleFloc gels require no prep. Emulsions dose easily through light equipment with minimal operator input. Both formats reduce labor, avoid tote farms, and speed up treatment—especially in plants with rotating crews or limited infrastructure.

Built for the SDCs too. Most programs today are run by service teams. We make handoff easier: standard dosing programs, remote monitoring compatibility, and fast support when specs shift. Whether you’re in-house or outsourced, CarboNet keeps things running clean.

The bottom line: Water treatment isn’t a core focus for meat and dairy producers. Solutions need to be cost-effective and not impact permit limits—but vitally they need to be safe, simple, and require little to no training for line workers who are focused on other tasks.

Reference project

A food manufacturer faced constant surcharges as unreliable chemical suppliers and understaffed make-down disrupted wastewater operations.

The problem: A food manufacturer in Northern California struggled to staff make-down operations which, when combined with an unreliable chemical supply chain, led to wastewater that regularly breached permissible levels of suspended solids.

The solution: While SimpleFloc was initially discussed to solve the issue of suspended solids in the waste stream, the conversation broadened to include make-down itself: the materials, the staffing, and the babysitting required to deal with FOG water’s high variability.

Make-down is a relic of treatment from the 1970s that leads to CAPEX, OPEX, and emission overages. It’s core ingredient—polyacrylamide—has weak bonds that create inconsistent flocs, forcing teams to overdose and, in turn, create flocs that are too wet or spongey—gumming up filters and presses that lead to work stops, swap outs, and shut downs.
SimpleFloc, in contrast, requires no make-down and plugs directly into the lines, cutting out make-own equipment, maintenance, dosing schedules, and adjustments.

The result: The switch to SimpleFloc had an immediate impact on the water and the P&L:

89.6% less PAM
18% less suspended solids
Wastewater surcharges greatly reduced

The bottom line: Just as with chemistry, water treatment decisions have primary and secondary consequences that aren’t always factored into the big picture or the bottom line.

By adding SimpleFloc, the manufacturer was able to remove an entire process, along with the associated costs and inefficiencies that were slowing them down and hitting the P&L.

“We cut suspended solids by 18% and polymer by 90%, then cut out make-down, which also saved our crew hours a week not messing with dosing.”

Food Operator, California

Reference project

Boosting solids performance and cutting chemical OPEX in dairy wastewater.

One of North America’s largest dairy producers needed tighter control over its wastewater system. Their DAF and belt press systems relied on high polymer doses but still produced variable results, with off-spec performance and rising treatment costs.

The facility runs DAF clarification and sludge dewatering to manage high-strength dairy effluent. It needed a chemistry program that could improve TSS control, increase cake solids, and reduce polymer volumes—all without overhauling existing infrastructure.

The problem: Operators struggled with rising polymer costs, off-spec TSS during high flows, and inconsistent belt press performance. Tote handling and dilution water requirements added operational burden.

The solution: Over a 10-day trial, the facility tested PreFlight 10080C (for DAF) and SimpleFloc 3078C/3080C (for belt presses). Products were injected using the plant’s existing Velodyne units and Venturi system. Operators monitored performance across flow changes, maintenance cycles, and minor dosing issues. CarboNet supported optimization throughout.

The result: CarboNet chemistry achieved better solids capture, higher cake dryness, and lower chemical OPEX. Floc quality held up under upset conditions, reducing effluent carryover. Belt press cake solids rose from 14.3% to 15.7%, while polyacrylamide use dropped by 62%. No infrastructure changes were needed.

Chemistry to compete

CarboNet’s NanoNet platform generates programmable flocculants, coagulants, and targeting agents that adapt to any application and significantly improve your P&L.

Plug-and-play wastewater treatment for meat & dairy.

Chicken nugget simplicity, prime rib results.

Reference project

“We cut suspended solids by 18% and polymer by 90%, then cut out make-down, which also saved our crew hours a week not messing with dosing.”

Food Operator, California

Reference project

Chemistry to compete

CarboNet’s NanoNet platform generates programmable flocculants, coagulants, and targeting agents that adapt to any application and significantly improve your P&L.