Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/516873
20 WET NEWS JUNE 2015 The cost of raw water and wastewater disposal is on the rise for food and drinks manufacturers. How water re-use can ensure reliable and cost-effective water management, asks Paul Winnett. The challenge: Recycling water to help with enhancing sustainability INSIGHT WaTEr TrEaTmENT To avoid the hidden costs of water usage, you need to look beyond the cost of the water itself and evaluate the processes used to treat it THE CONCEPT • advanced treatment technologies such as membrane filtration and reverse osmosis can be used to fulfil wastewater discharge requirements • advanced treatment technologies go further to remove contaminants than conventional processes • Pressure boosting is required for some treatment technologies where specific pressures are required to move water through a membrane • To implement an effective water re-use system objectives, applications and treatment levels must be considered NEED TO KNOW 1 Water re-use technology is included in the government's Water Technology List 2 a conventional treatment process removes solid waste found in water, providing minimal disinfection 3 a regime of treatment and re-use could save thousands of pounds a year in mogden Charges 4 The treatment and transportation of water or wastewater will require the biggest source of energy THE VERDICT • With the need to conserve water and reduce usage continually increasing, water re-use enables food and beverage manufacturers to not only meet the strictest treatment obligations, but can also lead to significant cost reductions and a meaningful opportunity of a more sustainable future Paul Winnett A ccording to a report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), 70% of water used annually by humans is consumed by the global agriculture sector. With statistics like this, it is easy to see why food and bever- age manufacturers are deploy- ing water re-use methods that ultimately help to alleviate busi- ness risk, enhance sustainabil- ity practices and safeguard water quality standards by decreasing the plant's depend- ency on external water sources. One way of reducing Mogden Charges is to treat or re-use water before discharge. Water re-use is the practice of re-using suitably treated wastewater from one process in another industrial process and can significantly reduce the demand on potable sources of freshwater and the volume of water discharged to the sewer. The food processing industry is ideally suited to this process. As a result, re-use is a way of meeting discharge standards, reducing cost and as an aid to helping food processing businesses who have maximised their daily demand for water, particularly if the business is metered. Crucially, water re-use technology is included in the government's Water Technology List which promotes the use of technology for water re-use and more importantly, rewards businesses, in the form of the Enhanced Capital Allowance Scheme (ECA), who invest in them via tax relief. There are two ways to re-use water in manufacturing. The first, direct water re-use, feeds water back into the production process, but this is not a popular choice within the food and beverage industry as the re-used water supply will come in direct contact with the end product. Popular choice However, the second, indirect water re-use, can provide a cost-effective supply for machine wash-down, cleaning floors, boiler feed or similar duties. The question is how do food and beverage manufacturers implement these measures that are not only beneficial to the environment but also the bot- tom line? The truth is that the cost of water as a raw material is not high. Manufacturers can develop proposals to recover process water, but this could be costly and the payback may be several years. For example, from an envi- ronmental point of view, a scheme to recover process water is a positive step, but the addi- tional equipment and space required to house the re-use water may not be commercially viable to implement. To avoid the hidden costs of water usage, you need to look beyond the cost of the water itself and evaluate the pro- cesses used to treat it. But with the market saturated with avail- able solutions, identifying the right treatment option can be difficult. •