Palm | Kelapa Sawit

ABSTRACT: Recent droughts in California and increased awareness of pollution from processing plants has renewed the interest in water management in the food industry. To assess the opportunities for improved water management, a survey of water use within the food processing industry in California was conducted. The survey included mailing a questionnaire to 453 food processing plants.

The requested information included quantity and cost of fresh water supply and wastewater disposal, seasonal water use pattern, commodity specific statistics for quantity and quality of water use, and treatment plant rates. A total of 71 plants responded to the survey. Responses from product groups were, fruit and vegetable (52), wine and beverages (9), seafood (4), meat (3), dairy (2), and oils (1). The total water use by the responding industries was 12 billion gallons per year. The total cost was $ 18 million of which 23% was for fresh water supply and 77% was for wastewater disposal. There were 5 plants spending over one million dollars for water annually. More than half of the plants spent over $1000 per million gallons of water while 15 plants exceeded $5000 per million gallons of water. At these costs, membrane treatment of wastewater for reuse becomes an attractive alternative. Cost of freshwater supply and wastewater disposal varied widely among plants. Specific water consumption rates of tomato, peach, olive and wine industries were found to be 890, 2830,7250, and 1320 gallons per ton of raw materials processed. The variation within each sector was high. These water consumption rates were significantly lower than the rates reported in earlier surveys.