HOME OUR STORY SUPER SPN SYSTEM EXPERTISE SPECIALTY SYSTEMS Our Story In this era of tough economic conditions — particularly in the industrial construction sector — Edward Hill and his daughter, Jessica Hill Colbert, represent a family owned company that is not only surviving but also flourishing. Thanks to old-fashioned ingenuity, their company, Universal Maintenance, continues to grow. With proven construction project management and design experience that span 120 years, Universal Maintenance’s construction team has established a reputation as a company that can provide manufacturing plants a lock and key service — everything from engineering design, fabrication, installation and maintenance. The company has been in operation for a decade. Their main focus has been on the growing poultry industry. And it was in a rendering poultry plant that Edward found a solution to an age-old problem and invented a decanter system that turned out to be not only environmentally friendly but also profitable for the industry. For years the poultry industry, like all meat industries, has been challenged with a cost effective way to handle sludge that results from processing. It is a catch twenty-two because the sludge contains valuable animal fat, protein and other nutrients that can be sold to rendering plants but Free Fatty Acids quickly build up in the sludge and prevent further processing. As the sludge deteriorates, Free Fatty Acids build up more and when they increase — the valuable animal fat and protein nutrients decrease. High concentrations of Free Fatty Acids in the sludge prevent rendering plants from selling the lucrative animal by-products, known as Secondary Product Nutrients or SPN to mill manufactures. The Secondary Product Nutrients (SPN) all too often wind up in landfills — filling up the earth and essentially throwing away a profitable by-product for the poultry industry. Whenever he would oversee construction jobs at poultry plants, Edward would discuss the SPN challenge with plant managers. The challenge was that the SPN was too solid sensitive to break apart property and de-water. The only other way to try to break apart SPN was by using a belt press or gravidity system and the end result was typically a product that was a prime target for pathogens and free fatty acid growth — resulting in a headache for management on how to handle the waste and also how to deal with the resulting plant odor. Edward knew there had to be a better solution and he definitely knew there was a better way to handle it than simply depositing lucrative animal by-products into landfills. “Every time I’d see a truck roll out of the plant loaded with sludge and headed off to the landfill, I’d think, there goes a truckload of animal protein that could be sold for profit. And instead it’s going to the dump. I knew somehow, there had to be a better way.” One afternoon while working at his fabrication shop, Edward started tinkering with a simple boiler and a turkey fryer. Using a sample of poultry sludge and good old American innovation, he eventually perfected a system that “cracks” the sludge and breaks apart the chicken fat, protein and solids from the waste. The fat and solids rise to the top of the water and problematic pathogens and bacteria evaporate. Next, the water is drained and the sludge becomes a profitable SPN with animal fat, protein and other nutrients that can then be rendered and sold to manufacturers of livestock and aquaculture feed. After years of testing and perfecting theories first discovered that day with a turkey fryer, Universal Maintenance patented the Super SPN System – a system that is revolutionizing the way SPN is handled in the meat industry. The system is one of a kind in that it dewaters sludge for the plants. Plant managers love it because this means they no longer have to constantly transport water. The Super SPN System cracks — without shearing — animal fat, protein and solids from the water. This unique system pasteurizes SPN, which stops Free Fatty Acid growth, decreases odor in the plant and keeps the SPN to such a high quality that renderers are eager to buy it from the poultry plants. “Since using the Super SPN System, we have gone from 30 trucks a week hauling sludge for land application — to six or seven trucks a week hauling away profit,” says James Janes, site supervisor for Fieldale Farms, which piloted the system last year. “Right now it’s simply the best kept secret in the poultry industry,” adds Vice-President of Fieldale Farms, Gary Savage, “It’s made our business more profitable, cleaner and efficient.” The Super SPN System UMDK is not only environmentally friendly but it turns waste into dollars. Georgia Tech tested the Super SPN System and faculty member Jim Walsh presented it as revolutionary technology at the 2011 Environmental Management Seminar. The system launched last year and is primed to reach a broader market. “Any industry that deals with sludge and needs water filtration can benefit from our system,” says Edward. “And the proof is in the pudding. We take a portable unit to interested customers and demonstrate the system on-site. I’ve been at this business for 33 years and let me tell you, this is the most exciting thing I’ve ever been involved with. It’s the perfect match — good for the environment and good for business.” 682 South Broad St. Toccoa, Georgia 30577 Phone: 706-297-0087