With the market of food and beverage wastewater treatment expected to grow, it is important to know how wastewater treatment in the food industry works. Water is an essential component of the food industry. It is used in different parts of our daily operations, from raw material cleaning to the incorporation of recipes.

A lot of plants assume municipal water is safe and clean to use. However, research has left processors asking a lot of questions. Nowadays, it is necessary to monitor the quality of water and determine impurity levels before using it. Water should be treated to ensure quality does not affect the production process. All water leaving the plant must be treated to ensure it meets the discharge limits set by federal and state regulations. Water can be treated, altered and changed – both non-chemically and chemically to meet quality standards.

Water treatment

There are several water treatment methods based on non-chemical and chemical technologies. Chlorine disinfection of water is widespread, although recently came under strong criticism due to various toxicity concerns when pumped back into clean water.

The market for chemicals used to treat water is expected to grow more than 5% BY 2024. Professionals believe that this increase is due to the rise of the pollution of groundwater. Treatments that do not use chemicals are also viable when it comes to cleaning impurities from water.

Ion exchange

This is a popular wastewater treatment for the food industry. Contaminants form ions when they dissolve in water. During ion exchange treatment, unwanted contaminants are removed from the water and replaced with harmless substances. Ions can either be negative or positive and the replacement substance should have the same type of charge. You should keep in mind that ion exchange is a wide treatment and can remove a lot of contaminants – even beneficial ones.

Reverse osmosis

When purifying water using reverse osmosis, a semi-permeable membrane is used to remove unwanted particles and ions. This process can remove both bacteria and chemicals, resulting in potable safe water for beverage and food production. The permeable membrane then filters contaminants through size exclusion. This process involves particles of specific sizes not being able to pass through.

Carbon filtration

This method involves using activated carbon filters to reduce chemicals and organic chemicals found in water. It can dissolve radon, reduce the quality of lead and get rid of pesticides, solvents and industrial wastes. It is crucial to note that this method does not remove nitrate, metals and microbial contaminants.

Settling

With this method, a settling system removes suspended particles from water using a tank. The particles that have a density higher than water, sink to the bottom of the tank. Some of the most common contaminants removed through this method include greases, fats, sand, hair, wood, grit, sludge and bottles.

De-aeration

This is another common food and beverage wastewater treatment method. When water with dissolved oxygen is left untreated, it can cause severe corrosion to your metal equipment. De-aeration is used to remove dissolved oxygen from water.