Abstract
To trial the concept of in-plant real-time manufacturing water content characterisation, a commercial optical system for measuring light absorption and backscatter intensity was used with samples of food industry wastewater, and the results compared with conventional laboratory based water analysis. It is shown that the instrumentation is capable of coping with the range of turbidities presented by the wastewater and that there is some correlation between the absorption and backscatter measurements with the conventional parameters COD and TSS. It is suggested that combining backscatter and absorption data may provide an optical fingerprint of effluent that can be used as a management parameter, for example to identify unexpected contamination events. Potential uses of the instrumentation are discussed, including to provide rapid feedback on effects of system changes on effluent production, and in a feedback control loop to allow reuse of water without compromising product safety.
Highlights
The pressure on fresh water availability for human use is exacerbated by the changing climate and increasing population, where this results in a mismatch between water demand and availability on a local scale
Lack of data on water flows and water quality within factories is a major barrier to radical progress in improving industrial water sustainability
While water volume data can be obtained by installing sub-metering, water quality data is much more difficult to obtain and instrumentation dedicated to this application is not available
Summary
The pressure on fresh water availability for human use is exacerbated by the changing climate and increasing population, where this results in a mismatch between water demand and availability on a local scale. It was identified that a fundamental barrier to achieving a long term and sustained water reduction and efficiency programme is lack of transparency on water use and waste management within manufacturing plants [24]. This has two aspects: lack of enterprise level engineering understanding of how and why water is used in processes, and lack of numerical data on actual water use and wastewater production. We discuss the trial results and the implications for further development of the concept of inplant real-time manufacturing water content characterisation, including specific applications
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