Water Production Process Research Articles

IDENTIFICATION OF DEFECTS OF PET AND HDPE-BASED DRINKING WATER PACKAGING PRODUCTS

Increased community mobility has an impact on increasing demand for packaged beverage products. Data from Aspadin (the association of bottled water companies) there are more than 1500 brands of bottled water (AMDK) in Indonesia and it is estimated that trade will continue to increase every year. However, the profit margins of bottled drinking water products are not classified as high, so producers must do efficiency. One form of efficiency that can be done is to reduce the waste of packaging production, where most bottled water is made of plastic. This study aims to identify several product defects that often occur during the production process of bottled water based on PET. The process of making plastic-based drinking water packaging is divided into 3 stages. First is to make a bottle preform, the second is the blow molding process, which is the process of making a whole package from a preform, and the third is the process of making a lid. The machines used in these stages are different and in each of the stages successfully classified types of product defects. During the preform manufacturing stage, black specks or contaminants, short shots, bubbles, and flash are found. At the stage of making the whole bottle includes, off center base, failed blowing, arising bracelet, rough parting line. The last defect in the process of making the cap includes excess material flash Short shot, bridge or ring break, leak centergate.

A Review on Ion-exchange Membranes Fouling and Antifouling During Electrodialysis Used in Food Industry: Cleanings and Strategies of Prevention

During the last decades, the interest of using ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) in electrodialysis (ED) technologies has emerged in wastewater treatment, drinking water and process water production as well as food industry and more recently in processes of energy conversion and storage. Like in all membrane technologies, the problem of fouling is one of the limitative phenomena of IEM efficiency and lifetime. It mainly leads to an increase in electrical resistance of ED stacks and consequently to increase operating and membrane replacement costs, which directly affects the cost of the final product. In food industry, the composition of the treated solutions and beverages is most often complex and rich in several organic and inorganic compounds which further increases the risks and effects of fouling. Hence, a better knowledge and understanding of IEM fouling phenomena is not only the key to solve the problems and find adequate solutions, but also is one of the main factors driving membrane technology forward. This review is mainly focused on the organic fouling phenomena of IEMs during ED processes in both food and water treatment industries. It principally presents the main cleaning techniques used in industry or experimented at laboratory scale and the recent strategies of fouling prevention.

On-line Measurement of Sub-ppb Level Hydrogen Peroxide in Ultrapure Water Production Process.

An on-line H2O2 analyzer was developed for application to the ultrapure water production process, using a gasometric method. The analyzer consists of a dissolved oxygen (DO) sensor and analyzer, a catalyst that converts H2O2 to O2, and a computer that stores the DO data. H2O2 concentrations were calculated by measuring the change in DO concentration before and after the catalyst and using the calculation formula presented in this study. In order to accurately analyze a sub-ppb level of H2O2, a DO meter which can correctly measure the DO concentration at the ppb level was applied. An ion exchange resin with Pd, was selected as an appropriate catalyst since it could decompose 99% of H2O2 to O2 at a space velocity of 120/h. The minimum analysis time was 20 min, and the detection limit was observed to be 0.27 ppb. When the DO concentration of the sample was 1.5 ppb or lower, an H2O2 concentration of 1 ppb or lower was successfully measured. Good correlation, with an R2 value of 0.99, was observed between the measured and calculated H2O2 concentrations.

Hyaluronic acid-graphene oxide/PVA hybrid monolith: A hydrophilic and compressible solid draw agent in forward osmosis

A new class of hyaluronic acid-graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol hybrid monolith (HA-GO/PVA) was prepared through a moderate method and applied as a highly efficient draw agent in Forward Osmosis (FO) process. GO nanosheets and HA were crosslinked with each other over a medical hydrophilic PVA sponge to form a three-dimensional porous monolith through poly (propylene glycol) bis(2-aminopropyl ether). The as-prepared HA-GO/PVA monolith presented a high water flux (13.9 ± 1.09 L m−2 h−1, abbreviated as LMH) and there was no reverse permeation when the deionized water used as the feed solution. Moreover, it exhibited an excellent compressibility after inducing the PVA substrate which resulting in an easy and quickly process of water production and regeneration. And a longer lifespan which keeping an average water flux of 6.22 LMH during recycle FO process (water recovery ratio = 80%) as high as 300 cycles was obtained. In a real seawater desalination process, the HA-GO/PVA presents a great desalination capacity, and the water fluxes of dry and wet HA-GO/PVA are 7.2 ± 0.45 and 3.9 ± 0.28 LMH, respectively. Simultaneously, the regeneration process can be easily accomplished through squeezing the HA-GO/PVA with an adult palms (15 kPa) in a short-time.

Experimental thermal/economic/exergetic evaluation of hot/cold water production process by thermoelectricity

Although economic analysis of thermoelectric power generator has been carried out extensively by many researchers, economic reports on the reverse application of thermoelectric (heating/cooling) are completely immature. No experimental-data-based economic evaluation has been carried out before for cooling/heating aim of Peltier effect. Obviously, lack of economic analysis results in incorrect or imperfect decision-making on marketing area of any product. This paper focuses on cold and hot water production by thermoelectricity and provides a comprehensive thermal/economic/exergetic evaluation for said application using recently developed SPECO (Specific Exergy Costing) method. The effect of all thermal/flow and electrical parameters are investigated. The formulation/evaluation process of economic factors is explained step by step to make it ease understanding for the future readers. The results showed that, obtaining for example 1 kWh energy in the form of water cooling or heating is much more cheaper if the input power (DC voltage) of any individual thermoelectric is adjusted in lower value. However, it will take more time to obtain 1 kWh cooling/heating energy when the input power is low. Hence, it is recommended to produce the cold/hot water in no-peak water consumption times with lower input power and store it (instead of cold/hot water production with higher input power through shorter time).

Water Flow, Solute and Heat Transfer in Groundwater

Groundwater is an essential and vital water resource for drinking water production, agricultural irrigation, and industrial processes. The better understanding of physical and chemical processes in aquifers enables more reliable decisions and reduces the investments concerning water management. This Special Issue on “Water Flow, Solute and Heat Transfer in Groundwater” of Water focuses on the recent advances in groundwater dynamics. In this editorial, we introduce 12 high-quality papers that cover a wide range of issues on different aspects related to groundwater: protection from contamination, recharge, heat transfer, hydraulic parameters estimation, well hydraulics, microbial community, colloid transport, and mathematical models. By presenting this integrative volume, we aim to transfer knowledge to hydrologists, hydraulic engineers, and water resources planners who are engaged in the sustainable development of groundwater resources.

Photodegradation of low molecular weight organic compounds by 185-nm UV light in ultrapure water production system

The photodegradation of low molecular weight organic compounds by 185-nm UV light was studied using a continuously operated column reactor which can be simulated the TOC reduction UV unit in ultrapure water production (UPW) process. Six chemicals (methanol, ethanol, acetaldehyde, isopropyl alcohol (IPA), acetone, and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK)) were chosen as target compounds, because they are frequently observed in influent of a total organic carbon (TOC) reduction UV unit in UPW production process. The degradation efficiency of each chemical and the proportions of intermediate byproducts and the final product (CO2) were measured by TOC and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The degradation efficiency by 185-nm UV based on GC–MS analysis was as follows, from highest to lowest: acetaldehyde, IPA, ethanol, MEK, methanol, and acetone. The fastest oxidation to CO2 was observed in methanol degradation in which 13 % of methanol was transformed to CO2 which was 6 times higher than that of ethanol, the slowest one. In the analysis of the intermediate byproducts of chemical degradation, except for IPA, the percentage of charged byproduct was higher than that of uncharged byproduct. These findings constitute a theoretical basis for placement of ion exchange (IX) resin behind a TOC reduction UV unit to increase the TOC removal efficiency because charged organic materials are removed by IX resin.

Numerical investigation of the natural gas hydrate production tests in the Nankai Trough by incorporating sand migration

A large number of data on gas production and reservoir characteristics were released after the 2013 and 2017 offshore natural gas hydrate production tests in the Eastern Nankai Trough of Japan. However, the systematic comparison of the two production tests is still limited. Therefore, in this study, we first reviewed the gas and water production processes of the three production boreholes in the two production tests. Some problems were found by comparing the gas and water production rates of each production well and with the existing numerical simulation results. For instance, the gas production rate of well AT1-P3 was extremely low and, distinguished with the previous simulation results, the gas production rates of wells AT1-P and AT1-P3 didn’t increase with time. Considering the severe sand production in these two wells, we speculated that the plugging of sand control device (SCD) caused by solid particles deposition was the cause of the above problems. Thus, for the first time, numerical simulation considering the sand production and SCD plugging was performed to evaluate the gas and water production performance of the three production wells. In addition, a preliminary analysis of the production efficiency of each well was carried out. The simulation results showed that a serious plugging occurred at well AT1-P3, which is responsible for its low gas production. In contrast, well AT1-P had a slight plugging, and well AT1-P2 avoided severe sand production owing to the reduced pressure drop, and obtained much higher gas production rate than well AT1-P3 with a lower pressure drop. Furthermore, the simulation results indicated that economically viable gas production is difficult to achieve with current production strategies even if the problems of sand production and SCD plugging are solved. This requires the use of some emerging production technologies in the future.

QUANTIFICATION OF POLLUTANTS MASS AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION AS A TOOL FOR INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER POLLUTION CONTROL IN STEEL INDUSTRY

Quantification of mass flows in production lines and waste treatment lines, as well as quantification of energy consumption at a factory is always challenges in cleaner production and pollution control decision making. The case study has conducted at a representative steel making complex in Vietnam, simulating the material flows of water and waste streams, and energy balance (EB) for water production and wastewater treatment processes, by using STAN (subSTance flow ANalysis) and SANKEY software, respectively. Input data were taken from secondary data sources, and additional monitoring of wastewater flows at the complex. COD was a selected parameter for material flow analysis (MFA) for evaluation of performance of wastewater treatment plants. Further, two scenarios were given for comparison of water and energy consumptions at existing and upgraded wastewater treatment plants. The results have shown that scenario 2, using disc filter (DF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membrane in combination with ultraviolet (UV) for improving quality of treated wastewater, could allow factory to reuse wastewater for production purposes. At the saved amount of fresh water 10,000 m3/day by reuse of treated wastewater, the saved energy was 1,489.5 kWh/day. The quantitative flows of MFA and EB were clearly presented in STAN and SANKEY diagrams.

The Role of HACCP Method in Determining Drinking Water Quality

One of the main daily needs of human beings is drinking water. Clean drinking water can sustain every aspect of human life. From time to time, humankind already discovered multiple water resources which can be used in various ways. One of them is mineral bottled water. Yet not even this water source is guaranteed safe to be consumed. There might be many contaminants contained in the mineral bottled water production process. This triggers the need to form an applicable, comprehensive, and standardized method to determine which drinking water sources are safe for consumption. One of the methods which can fulfill the requirements is HACCP. HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is a system to analyze risks by determining a sufficient controlling and supervision method to avoid irregularity in the production system. There are five primary principles in HACCP method, i.e. analyzing the risks on the system, determining critical control points and critical limits, arranging monitoring procedure and organizing corrective action in the diversion of critical limit which surpassed toleration limit. Mineral bottled water production system can be an ideal subject for the application of HACCP method due to its detailed system which can be analyzed further.

The seasonal variation of microbial communities in drinking water sources in Shanghai

Microorganisms play an important role in the ecology, quality, and safety of bodies of water, particularly those used as potable water sources. It is essential to investigate the diversity of the microbial communities in water sources and explore the relationship between microorganisms, algae, and environmental factors. In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to investigate the seasonal variation and diversity of the microbial community in a Shanghai water source. Moreover, this study analyzed the influence of water quality in combination with environmental factors on the microbial community. The results showed that the changing trend among algae was mainly Cyanobacteria in summer and Bacillariophyta in winter. The abundance of Cyanobacteria and Actinobacteria showed an opposite trend, while the abundance of Actinomyces and Ilumatobacter maintained the same trend, which was opposite to that of Bacillariophyta. The relative abundance of β-Proteobacteria was the highest in July, with higher nutrient concentrations leading to the higher relative abundance of β-Proteobacteria. Some algae-lysing bacteria play a key role in the decay and degradation of algae. The redundancy analysis showed that permanganate index, ammonia nitrogen, and nitric nitrogen were the main factors affecting the microbial community in the water source. As such, this study may help optimize the microbial control, provide data for the assessment of the environmental and ecological quality of the water, improve water safety and eutrophication pre-control, and further our knowledge regarding the water production process in this water source.

Urban water supply system optimization and planning: Bi-objective optimization and system dynamics methods

Sustainable, low-cost, environmentally conscious development is a major challenge for urban water supply systems. This study considers household and industrial water demand and establishes a bi-objective model to balance the economic and environmental cost of a three-stage urban water supply system including water production, distribution, and treatment processes. Considering different attitudes toward the increasing imbalance between water demand and supply, three hypothetical scenarios are designed based on which three sets of data on water demand and wastewater production volumes are defined. Then, a two-step method is applied to obtain solutions to decision variables (potable water use rate and wastewater untreated rate). After optimization, a system dynamics model is applied to test water supply system performance under short-, medium-, and long-term planning scenarios. Finally, the model is applied to Singapore to test its feasibility. The proposed bi-objective model provides managerial insights into the use of alternative water resources. For example, in 2020, water demand is simulated as 5.63×108m3. After optimization using the proposed model, the quantity of alternative water is 2.5×108m3 (water from the local catchment), 2.5×108m3 (imported water), 5.31×107m3 (desalinated water), 4.05×107m3 (NEWater for indirect potable use), and 8.10×107m3 (NEWater for direct non-potable use). Total water supply is 6.75×108m3, which means there is some redundancy in water supply. Further, three indexes—supply-demand ratio, economic cost, and environmental cost—help to identify the suitable planning period: the medium-term focus is the most appropriate option as it promises water adequacy for over 15 years and has lower energy costs and less negative environmental impact during the evaluation years. In addition, this study proves the influence of decision makers’ preferences on contradictory objective functions (economic cost minimization and environmental negative impact minimization). Overall, the proposed model balances a trade-off between the risk of an increasing future supply-demand imbalance and current water adequacy. Lastly, the proposed model offers a paradigm to identify a sustainable planning period.

Water and hydrogen transport modelling through the membrane-electrode assembly of a PEM fuel cell

Membrane electrode assembly (MEA) formed by a proton exchange membrane (PEM), two catalyst layers and two gas diffusion layers represent the heart of the PEM fuel cell system, being the place where the electrochemical reactions are developed in order to generate electrical power. Due to a complex water production and transportation process through the porous media of MEA, the water management represents one of the most critical issues for the low temperature PEM fuel cell systems, working at 30 °C–80 °C. In the present paper, a one-dimensional mass transport PEMFC model for evaluation of net water flux across the Nafion type membrane was implemented with the Comsol Multiphysis software, based on the finite element method. Hydrogen crossover phenomenon, which may cause a degradation of the reaction sites inside MEA, was also included in the model. The numerical model offered a reasonable prediction of the fuel cell electrical performance in the form of current–voltage characteristic after validation with experimental data from the literature. Fuel cell performance was investigated by modifying the temperature and pressure inside the cell, along with the relative humidity for reactant gases.

Reuse of Waste Geothermal Brine: Process, Thermodynamic and Economic Analysis

Geothermal brines can be a resource of energy, freshwater and minerals. Even when rejected after their exploitation to produce energy in a power plant, the brines can be a source of freshwater and minerals, and can have a residual enthalpy that can be recovered to produce additional power. The different reuse scenarios of these wasted brines depend on the composition and temperature at which they must be reinjected into the wells. On this basis, geothermal energy production is a perfect case study to investigate the water–energy nexus and to optimize the integrated energy- and water-production processes. In this paper, two case studies of brine reuse for both energy and water production are presented with the related process analysis, basic design and technical–economic analysis. A methodology to evaluate the exergy efficiency of the processes is presented by analyzing minimum work of separation, the maximum achievable work and the additional primary energy required for integrated production. The novel approach to estimate the process efficiency for integrated geothermal energy and desalination plants is applied to the case studies and discussed in light of literature results.

Evaluating the accuracy of two in situ optical sensors to estimate DOC concentrations for drinking water production

Fluorescence and absorbance based sensors for DOC concentration estimations can help in optimizing drinking water production processes.

Effect of oxide scale on corrosion behavior of HP-13Cr stainless steel during well completion process

The well completion process in oil and gas industry, aiming to build effective exploitation, is divided into acidizing and formation water production process. Oxide scale (OS) formed on the inner wall of the HP-13Cr stainless steel tubes during the hot extrusion process changes the surface roughness. The effects of OS on the corrosion of HP-13Cr stainless steel during well completion process were studied by corrosion measurement, spectra analysis, microscopic observation and numerical simulation. The results indicate that the OS make no change of phase distribution and element composition of corrosion scale, while the increasing OS roughness is the dominant factor for accelerating corrosion rate during the well completion process. In acidizing process, the greater surface roughness OS of HP-13Cr stainless steel increases the corrosion rate obviously due to a larger interfacial area in contact with the aggressive environment. During subsequent formation water production process, the turbulence eddy, formed at locations characterized with greater surface roughness OS, can deteriorate the corrosion scale and accelerate the mass transfer of the corrosive species, resulting in more serious corrosion.

Enzyme-aided forward osmosis (E-FO) process to enhance removal of micropollutants from water resources

Membrane filtration has proven its advantages in removing micropollutants from water. However, concentrated micropollutants in feed solutions still pose a high risk to environments and may contaminate the permeate. Here, a proof-of-concept of enzyme-aided forward osmosis (E-FO) process was demonstrated. In E-FO process, degradation and rejection of micropollutants occurred simultaneously, providing a detoxified feed solution and a cleaner permeate. A lab-made polyketone-based thin film composite membrane with high flux and high micropollutants rejection was explored as FO membrane. Laccase and 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol (TCP) was employed as a model enzyme and micropollutant, respectively. Compared with a single enzyme catalysis, E-FO process showed a higher degradation efficiency owing to enzyme condensation during filtration. Compared with a single FO process including 0.051 mM TCP in feed solution, E-FO process adding 0.8 μM laccase showed 7.4 and 10.7 times lower TCP permeation and membrane adsorption when operated for 10 h. An enzyme-aided reverse osmosis (E-RO) process can produce clean water with similar quality as that of E-FO, however, suffers from membrane fouling. This work provides an insight in facile coupling of efficient enzyme catalysis with low fouling FO process for high quality water production from contaminated water resources.

Application of closed-loop management in production process of acidic electrolyzed oxidizing water in Central Sterile Supply Department

Objective To improve the management of the production process of acidic electrolyzed oxidizing water (AEOW) , detection of its physiochemical indicators and supply in the Central Sterile Supply Department with the closed-loop management and to ensure that its physiochemical indicators meet the requirement. Methods The current operation process of AEOW generators as well as detection and supply of AEOW in the Central Sterile Supply Department, Children's Hospital, Capital Institute of Pediatrics were analyzed and the existing problems were identified between January and March 2017. The closed-loop management process was developed and implemented according to the existing problems. The satisfaction rate and compliant were compared before and after the management was modified. Results The satisfaction score before the closed-up management (October to December, 2016) was (90.04±11.75) . There were 1 complaint about unsatisfactory physiochemical indicators and 9 complaints about late supply of AEOW. The satisfaction score after the closed-up management (January to March, 2017) was (95.24±5.22) . There was no complaint about unsatisfactory physiochemical indicators and 1 complaints about late supply of AEOW. Conclusions The closed-up management helps to improve the production process of AEOW in the Central Sterile Supply Department, which enables timely feedback and problem-solving, avoids problems and complaints regarding its physiochemical indicators, satisfies clinical needs, and continuously improves the working quality of the Central Sterile Supply Department. Key words: Central Sterile Supply Department; Acidic electrolyzed oxidizing water; Closed-up management; Process improvement

Energy performance enhancement of a collective hot water production process equipped with a centralized storage tank

This paper investigates the thermal performance of a forced circulation collective solar water heater (SWH) equipped with a centralized storage tank, throughout hourly dynamic simulations. The main purpose of this study is to identify the parameters affecting the overall efficiency of the collective process, because the literature review focuses on individual SWHs, rather than collective hot water systems that are extensively integrated in the tertiary sector, such as hotels, hospitals, university residences, etc. Hence, being able to suggest general recommendations that would be helpful to guide hot water system designers. A typical residence located in Fez city (Morocco) that shelters 60 occupants was considered as a realistic case study, for which the thermal performances of the collective hot water production system were simulated. Several performance indicators were defined and miscellaneous dynamic simulations were carried out to enhance the process's efficiency. For instance, the incident energy on the solar collector panel, the supplementary consumptions for different storage tank volumes and load profiles, the useful energy gain from the collector's field and the solar fraction of the collective hot water process. The results showed that the Evacuated Tube Technology (ETC) is suitable for this collective hot water production application, because the solar fraction of the process remains higher with ETC, as opposed to the use of Flat Plate Collectors (FPC). Moreover, increasing the centralized storage tank volume enhances the annual solar fraction of the collective hot water process. Last but not least, the maximal annual averaged solar fraction was achieved by the ETC technology (78%). However, it is equal to 68% for (FPC) while maintaining 3000 l as a centralized storage capacity.

Minimizing failure of production quality from refill drinking water in Gubeng District, Surabaya City, using failure mode and effect analysis

Refill water is one important element in filling the increasing drinking water demand. The price offered by refill water depot is significantly lower than packaged water, however, its quality does not meet the standards, and therefore it will potentially affect people’s health. This risk surfaces if refill water depot installation can’t treat raw water as well as the environment surrounding properly. Thus, identification to refill water production failure cause is needed to minimize the possibility of failure happening. Identification and risk analysis processes are based on risk management concept by using Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA). Failure cause identification is done using fishbone diagram to find the root of the problem causing the failure. The root of the failure will then be given score to determine the biggest risk stated in Risk Priority Number (RPN). RPN value is obtained through multiplying severity, occurrence, and detection. The biggest failure cause in refill water depot is in the disinfection technology used, which is the replacing and contact duration of regulation regarding refill water also causes failure in refill water production process.