Recovery of Edible and Industrial
Products from Effluent Streams of
Potato Processing Plants
ROY SHAW. Head
Red River Valley Potato Processing Laboratory
East Grand Forks, Minnesota
INTRODUCTION
My definition of Waste could be as follows: Waste is material that has been
placed in the public domain, either in a sewage system, drain field, or water
course, because the plant operator feels that the material is of no further use to
him.   This paper will not be concerned with waste as thusly defined.
More and more often the public domain is refusing to accept this refuse, and
the plant operator must do something. Therefore, we will talk about material that
is still in control of the plant operator and may still be used for new products,
either edible or industrial.
The problem of utilization of extraneous potato material from processing
plants is well known. In fact, the problem is rapidly becoming one of first order
importance, both to the industry and to the conservationist. Any method which
will decrease the amount of material entering the waste stream leaving a plant
will aid in the alleviation of the overall problem. Utilization of this potato material in a manner which will develop income will partially take care of the total
cost of waste disposal by reducing the amount of material to be handled in a waste
system, and will ultimately help the consumer by preventing increases in product
costs. For this reason, the development of food and non-food products using ma -
terial not suitable for the main product may be economically sound.
No research on utilization of extraneous potato material is presently in progress in the Eastern Utilization Research and Development Division. Of necessity,
therefore, these remarks on utilization for products must be in the nature of a review of earlier work in the Department and of published work from industry. In
addition, some suggestions for possible future methods and applications will be
offered.
There are several facts which must be understood before a discussion of this
type can be given. First, one must appreciate that potato processing plants are in
business to produce edible products from potatoes. From an economy standpoint,
they are continually trying to increase the yield of their mainline edible products,
thereby reducing the amount of extraneous potato material. That is, the best
method for utilization of extraneous potato material is not to produce such material in the first place.
Second, we must appreicate that plants vary in size, that a large plant, by its
very size, may have an extraneous potato stream that will justify economic ex -
ploitation. Conversely, a small plant may not have sufficient volume to set up an
economical side line of production.
Third, we must appreciate that various plants involved in the production of
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