Water is becoming a more expensive utility in water rich as well as water stressed regions. Industries are facing a sharp rise in water costs for extraction and discharge, as well as tighter regulatory guidelines on discharged water quality. In consequence, the reduction of water usage and discharge by re-using existing process water streams has become financially and ecologically attractive.
MMS work with multiple industries in the practice of "water sobriety", reclaiming valuable process water streams for direct reuse within an industrial process. This has allowed our clients to reduce their extraction and discharge fees, whilst safeguarding the environment in the process.
Water recovery and reuse is relevant in almost all industries in which water is indispensable as a raw material, auxiliary material and cleaning agent, among others: paper industry, breweries, sugar production, milk processing, sweeteners, extraction, slaughterhouses, coffee processing, etc.
Download brochure MMS Water Reuse Applications.
Process wastewater can be cleaned and reused in the processing plant for various non-product contacting purposes to reduce wastewater discharge as well as freshwater intake.
The process involves pre-treatment with hollow-fiber UF membranes, followed by processing of hollow-fiber permeate in a dual-pass spiral-wound RO/RO polisher system.
Reverse osmosis systems can be used to treat condensate water for re-use within the factory as process or CIP water.
Condensate water typically has a low COD, making it an ideal process water stream for recovery, avoiding unnecessary hydraulic loads with low COD to external wastewater treatment plants.
Pre-treatment steps are required to ensure the optimum rejection of small molecules such as organic acids and aromas, which may be recovered in the process.
A paper factory consumes considerable amounts of water. The MMS MF-NF/RO process allows the recovery of 90% of process water, significantly reducing discharge rates and costly licensing fees.
Sweeteners in wastewater streams yield extremely high levels of COD. With nanofiltration, MMS can selectively recover sweeteners, reducing COD levels to values suitable for discharge or re-use within the factory. Recovered COD allows potential re-use of valuable raw material.
Oily process waters can be challenging to treat by conventional biological wastewater processes.
MMS membrane technology, combined with our process know-how, can help in oil concentration while allowing recovery of water for re-use within the process operation.