Centralized Autonomous Cleaning Solution Regeneration/Recycling System for Multiple Glove Hand-Mould Washing Tanks

Abstract

The glove hand-mould cleaning process occurs in a series of washing tanks containing cleaning solution where hand moulds are dipped to remove unwanted residuals. This process is important for ensuring the even deposition of latex on the hand-mould surface for the next stage. In current practice, the industry replaces the contaminated cleaning solution with a fresh batch when the concentration of the unwanted residuals in the washing tank reaches the maximum allowable limit. To do this, the entire production line has to be stopped for the replacement of new cleaning solution, thus affecting the production efficiency. Such practice represents batch operation, which is time consuming, unproductive and unsustainable. This work proposes the synthesis of a centralized autonomous cleaning solution regeneration/recycling system aiming to change from batch to continuous operation. The proposed work uses mathematical optimization to select efficient continuous operations to regenerate cleaning solution in a centralized system and to recycle it in multiple washing tanks. Two scenarios for cleaning solution regeneration/recycling centralized systems are demonstrated. Scenario 1 depicts a centralized system with a single solid-liquid separation (SLS) instrument, and scenario 2 proposes a centralized system with multiple SLS instruments. The results show that the centralized cleaning solution regeneration/recycling system significantly reduces freshwater consumption and total annual cost. The multiple pathways for the regeneration of cleaning solution in scenario 2 are claimed to perform best, with a total annual cost savings of 76.6% and freshwater savings of 99.8% in relation to base case without having centralized system.