Page 11 - Australian Pork Newspaper

AJ Bush upgrades for safer improved operating efficiencies and reduced odours
JBS paid $14.2 million in ransomware attack
JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, paid a $14.2 million ransom following a five-day cy- berattack that disrupted its North American and Australian operations.
Ransom software works by encrypting vic- tims’ data.
worth of food produc- tion.
Sites in the US and Canada were forced to shut down as were 47 locations in Australia.
The FBI reported it was investigating about 100 different types of ransomware.
Preliminary probe re- sults show no company, customer or employee data was compromised in the attack.
The company paid the money to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and to en- sure no data was cov- ertly extracted.
JBS meat plants re- covered faster than meat buyers and analysts ex- pected.
Apparently a Russia- linked hacking group, one of the most special- ised and sophisticated cybercriminal groups in the world, is behind the cyberattack against JBS.
The subsidiary of Brazilian firm JBS SA halted slaughtering at all of its US plants for a day in response to the cyber- attack, which threatened to disrupt food supply chains and further in- flate already high food prices.
JBS USA chief ex- ecutive officer Andre Nogueira said, “This was a very difficult de- cision to make for our company and for me per- sonally.”
The Russia-linked cyber gang goes by the name REvil and Sodi- nokibi.
The cyberattack fol- lowed a hack last month on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the US.
The Brazilian meat- packer’s arm in the US and Pilgrim’s Pride Corp –aUSchickencompany mostly owned by JBS – lost less than one day’s
On Monday June 7 $2.3 million in crypto- currency ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline was recovered by the Justice Department, cracking down on hackers who launched the attack.
It disrupted fuel de- livery for several days in the southeast of the US.
Typically, hackers will offer the victim a key in return for cryptocur- rency payments that can run into hundreds of thousands or even mil- lions of dollars.
Third parties are car- rying out forensic inves- tigations and no final de- terminations have been made.
“However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that the JBS ransom payment was made in bitcoin.
AJ Bush & Sons (Man- ufactures) are one of Australia’s largest east coast protein recovery provider operating ren- dering and manufac- turing plants in NSW and Queensland.
system as an alternative to traditional surface- floating aerators, which have always been consid- ered difficult and poten- tially hazardous to ser- vice or maintain.
tion of the equipment if required, ensuring a com- pletely safe working envi- ronment for operators.
and oxidation zone’ where the wastewater and air are mixed under pressure.
The plants specialise in processing animal by- products for the meat butchery industry.
These surface aerators are usually connected to lagoon bank by cables and generally require op- erators to ‘paddle out’ in a small boat to carry out any work.
Nick was pleased with the results and is consid- ering replacing the bal- ance of the old system to bank-mounted Venturi Aerators.
The turbulent mixing facilitates the removal of substances with weak Henry’s law solubility constants, such as carbon dioxide and volatile or- ganic compounds.
The NSW Riverstone plant’s collection area, in addition to Sydney metro, ranges from Nowra in the south to Canberra, Dubbo and Bathurst inland, and up to Newcastle and Tam- worth in the north.
It was emphasised that by using Venturi Aera- tors, asset owners could minimise workplace health and safety risks and reduce maintenance and operating costs when compared with surface- floating aerators.
A Venturi Aerator is a device used to mix and aerate tanks, ponds and lagoons.
The material collected is recycled into products used for livestock, pet food, aquaculture, ferti- liser and biofuels.
The Venturi Aerator is used in conjunction with a self-priming pump.
Because of the nature of the system – using a self- priming pump – mixing and destratification is controlled by the posi- tioning of the suction and discharge of the pump.
AJ Bush’s Riverstone plant has undergone nu- merous upgrades over the years, aligning with com- pany goals of minimising waste, reducing the risk of pollution and odour, and continuous improve- ment in providing a safe work environment for em- ployees.
Venturi Aerators can produce the desired level of mixing and dissolved oxygen with all the equip- ment located on the banks of lagoons – not in or on them.
The pump draws water from the source and pumps it into the Venturi Aerator.
As part of this program, plant engineer Nick Law- rance contacted Hydro In- novations for advice and assistance in replacing aging surface-floating aerators on their waste- water treatment system.
Here it draws in atmos- pheric air at the rate of 2.2 times the rate of the fluid being pumped.
For more information, visit hydroinnovations. com.au or call 02 9898 1800.
Nick wanted an aera- tion system that could be monitored and main- tained from the lagoon banks – providing a safe environment that opera- tors can attend to mainte- nance from – and keep the aeration system at peak operational efficiency.
The other obvious benefit of the newly in- stalled ‘bank-mounted’ Venturi Aeration system is the ability to quickly, safely and easily inspect the system or make any adjustments to the opera-
Hydro Innovations pro- posed a Venturi Aeration
The rendering plant had been operating five floating units and when one of these failed it was decided to install a Ven- turi Aeration system to trial the effectiveness and operation of the system.
Within the Venturi Aerator, there is an ‘ac- celeration zone’ where the pumped fluid is ac- celerated, creating a low- pressure area in the ‘aspi- rating zone’.
Water can therefore be drawn from anywhere and at any depth of the tank or lagoon and can be discharged anywhere at any depth.
After only a month of operation, significant re- sults were achieved, espe- cially in reducing surface scum, maintaining re- quired dissolved oxygen levels, improving oper- ating efficiencies and contributing to lower odour levels.
The air and water then passes into the ‘mixing
What is a Venturi Aerator?
It also oxidises sulphur containing molecules such as hydrogen sulphide and mercaptans for effec- tive odour and corrosion control, as well as re- ducing the size of organic molecules.
It uses Bernoulli’s prin- cipal, whereby a low- pressure area is created by an accelerated fluid.
The fluid – saturated with dissolved oxygen – is then pumped back into the source.
BEFORE
AFTER
After only a month of operation, significant results were achieved with the Venturi Aerators at AJ Bush & Sons (Manufactures) – reducing surface scum, maintaining required dissolved oxygen levels, improving operating efficiencies and contributing to lower odour levels.
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Australian Pork Newspaper, July 2021 – Page 11