The Potential of Waste Water Reuse in the Sugar Refining Industry

摘要

United Sugar Company operates a port based destination refinery with no access to fresh water. Consequently, it operates three thermal desalination plants. The cost of water has been escalating as the country liberalises the energy sector exposing industry to higher fuel prices. Over the years, the refinery has implemented several small modifications to reduce the water consumption from 500 lit/ton sugar to 380 lit/ton sugar. The paper discusses some of the small practical ideas and shares some details on one novel idea employing reverse osmosis for recovering wastewater. Wastewater reuse potential depends on waste volume, concentration and characteristics, operation and maintenance costs, availability of fresh water and regulatory standards. Stringent recycling and reuse is a good option for sugar refiners whose fresh water costs are high and are operating in increasingly competitive market with stringent regulatory environment. The company embarked on a ZERO effluent goal several years ago and is well on its way to achieve this. This paper discusses the steps taken to reduce effluent and its concentration, and the use of secondary and tertiary treatment to achieve the goal of zero effluent.