Overview of water usage and wastewater management in the food and beverage industry

Abstract

A B S T R A C TFood and beverage industry is one of the major contributors to the growth of all economies. In European Union, it constitutes the largest manufacturing sector in terms of turnover, value added, and employment. However, the sector has been associated with various environmental issues including high levels of water consumption and wastewater production. In the present work, an overview regarding the production process, the water usage and the wastewater generation, and treatment of representative manufacturing industries from selected sectors of the food and beverage industry, is presented. The industries under investigation are: slaughterhouses, potato processing, olive oil production, cheese production, and beer manufacturing. As expected, between those different sectors, water consumption and wastewater generation vary greatly. Wastewater pollution load depends on the type of product being processed, the process and the equipment used, while the common characteristic is the strong organic content. In this view, the predominant treatment methods found in the recent literature are biological. This fact is reflected to the wastewater treatment technology employed which, in most of the cases, is biological with special attention to the application of the anaerobic digestion process.

Slaughterhouse wastewater characteristics, treatment, and management in the meat processing industry: A review on trends and advances

“…Thus, SWW management methods after preliminary treatment are various, but they can be divided into five major subgroups: land application, physicochemical treatment, biological treatment, AOPs, and combined processes (Valta et al, 2015). Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages, which are discussed below.…”

Slaughterhouse Wastewater: Treatment, Management and Resource Recovery

“…Moreover, the global production of beef, pork, and poultry meat has been doubled in the past decade and is projected to grow steadily until 2050. Thus, the number of slaughterhouse facilities is increasing, which results in an expected higher volume of slaughterhouse wastewater (SWW) to be treated [3]. SWWs are classified as one of the most detrimental industrial wastewaters to the environment by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) because the inadequate disposal of SWW is one of the reasons for river deoxygenation and groundwater pollution [4].…”

Fruit and vegetable wash-water characterization, treatment feasibility study and decision matrices

“…Screening is the first step in treating any wash-water as it removes large objects and particles from the wash-water stream that are generated due to washing and processing of fruits and vegetables (Ljunggren 2006;Valta et al 2015). Screening can be done with a course and/or fine mesh (200-50 µm) to retain large particles (Lee 2007).…”

“…It may also be used as a pre-treatment for DAF system or membrane filtration (Valta et al 2015;Khiadani et al 2014). …”