Diamond Pet Foods continues to search out solutions on eliminating foul odor.

That’s been the big complaint about the Ripon plant that processes kibbles of pet food.
 
Diamond hired a consultant, who, according to City of Ripon’s Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart, will recommend use of technology to help reduce those unpleasant smells.

“Our consultant has concerns about the technology,” he said at last Tuesday’s Ripon City Council meeting.

Zuidervaart said the city and Diamond continue to good working relationship.

Meanwhile, the pet food plant is moving forward with its plan, which will take three months to install, Zuidervaart said.

He along with City Administrator Kevin Werner, Vice Mayor Elden ‘Red’ Nutt, and Councilman Dean Uecker recently toured the Diamond facility.

“I was amazed at its cleanliness,” Uecker said.

Nutt agreed, adding: “It felt like I was in a hospital – (Diamond) has been very sincere about eliminating the odor.”

Since last year, those at Diamond have put in plenty of time in addressing problem.

They’ve conducted source testing of the wet cyclone exhaust as part of the pending air permit application, and hired an equipment vendor to deploy and test the add-on odor control technology.

At one point, they’ve talked about extending the roof-top stacks by 10 feet in order to get the exhaust higher into the atmosphere as a way of dispersing odor before it reaches the ground.

Diamond remains busy since opening nearly two years ago, rolling out 130 to 140 truckloads of product each week while operating three processing lines.