Maximum Water Reuse Research Articles

A novel user-friendly tool for minimizing water use in processing industry

This article proposes a user-friendly tool for investigating water reuse and reduction strategies within the processing industry. The tool is based on a new, simple approach to targeting minimum freshwater systems with single or multiple contaminants. This method can be applied to the processing industry in general and in particular the food industry, which presents significant challenges for water-saving. The investigation of water recovery is suitable for the new design or revamping of the water network of continuous processes. According to the water quality requirement, the options for water reuse are limited. Each operation using water involves an inevitable transfer of pollutants, which increases the concentrations in the water flow. By promoting the reuse options, the freshwater decreases, but the contaminant concentrations increase further. The optimum design targets result from a tradeoff between the maximum water reuse, the maximum possible concentrations of contaminants, and the minimum mass transfer of pollutants involved within each operation. An algorithmic procedure for tradeoffs is developed and implemented in Python software language. One case study is used to demonstrate this targeting method.

Direct sewage filtration for concentration of organic matters by dynamic membrane.

Sewage treatment is experiencing a paradigm shift whereby sewage should be treated as a resource with maximum reuse of water, nutrients and energy. Concentration of sewage for organic matter enrichment is essential for improved energy recovery. In this study, the concentrating performance of direct sewage filtration by a dynamic membrane was investigated. A novel double-layer cloth-media membrane module was developed. A 50 μm Daron cloth was selected as inner layer and a 1 μm propene polymer cloth as outer layer. Quick formation of the dynamic membrane was observed and it agreed with the complete blocking model. The results of continuous-flow experiments showed that chemical oxygen demand (COD) was concentrated to about 4500 mg/L within nine operation cycles in 70 hours. Trans-membrane pressure increased quickly to 80 kPa at the end of each cycle. Theoretical concentrating efficiency (η) was 77% and the carbon balance calculation showed 70.7% COD was retained in the reactor during the concentrating process. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the cake layer was almost completely removed after physical cleaning and the gel layer was not remarkable. A sequencing sewage concentrating process was proposed for long-term operation.

06/01888 Studies on simultaneous energy and water minimisation — Part II: systems with maximum re-use of water: Savulescu, L. et al. Chemical Engineering Science, 2005, 60, (12), 3291–3308

06/01888 Studies on simultaneous energy and water minimisation — Part II: systems with maximum re-use of water: Savulescu, L. et al. Chemical Engineering Science, 2005, 60, (12), 3291–3308