Palm | Kelapa Sawit

ABSTRACT : The food processing industry has traditionally been a large water user whose discharges are closely monitored for oxygen demand (biochemical and chemical), oil and grease, suspended solids and color. Historically, food industries have treated their wastewater with a variety of biological processes and discharged the effluent to a POTW, a receiving stream or to a land application site.

Complete water reuse, while a desirable economic and environmental  goal, has not been practical in many instances because the water quality produced by conventional technology is not acceptable for reuse, and the cost of process water has been low. However, recent droughts in the northeast, southeast and California have created the specter of water rationing to industry, hastening some industries to reconsider a more aggressive water reuse program.

To be fully reused, the treated wastewater must generally meet potable water standards for dissolved solids, organic content and bacterial content. A new technology, or rather a new application of- existing food industry technology, has demonstrated the ability to drastically reduce water consumption while recovering valuable products for reuse. The Heat Pump Evaporator™ is allowing these industries to "close loop" their processing lines: virtually eliminating water usage, wastewater discharge and sludge production. A southeastern crabmeat processor was faced with a difficult wastewater problem: no capacity existed at the local POTW to handle hie wastewater, which has a particularly high BOD5 content, The installation of the Heat Pump Evaporator has allowed the industry to reduce BOD5 concentrations to negligible levels and to utilize the recovered water for process use. The byproduct of the treatment process is a highly-concentrated sugar solution comprising less than 1% of the original waste volume. The solution will be sold.