In the food and beverage sector, using alternative water supplies is key in ensuring water security. We provided our client, a frozen food manufacturer, a water treatment solution that enabled them to use their borehole water to ensure water security and, by extension, business security.
Today, more and more companies are seeking alternative supplies of water to ensure water security. This, in turn, allows production to continue efficiently and provides the company with business security.
Some food producers use groundwater from boreholes as their main water supply, for instance.
However, using groundwater in food and beverage production tends to be challenging, as it is imperative that groundwater meets potable standards as set out by authorities before it can be used in food production processes.
Our client, a frozen food manufacturer in Cape Town, had access to an existing borehole supply. The groundwater from this borehole was intended to be used in their frozen food production processes, but the high levels of metals and sodium chloride in the water rendered it unusable.
The water first had to meet the SANS 241 regulations, along with the company’s specifications on sodium content, before it could be used for production of food products. In order to meet these, our team designed and assembled a turnkey water treatment plant for the company that treats the groundwater from the borehole.
The water treatment plant incorporates oxidation, pH adjustment, media filtration, and cartridge filtration in conjunction to reverse osmosis (RO) and disinfection.
Pre-treatment
The first stage of treatment involves dosing the borehole stream with sodium hydroxide in order to adjust the level of pH and alkalinity in the water. This also assists in the oxidation of the iron and manganese.
Next, sodium hypochlorite is introduced in order to facilitate further oxidation of dissolved iron and manganese, as well as organics and microbial content.
Filtration
The next stage of treatment is filtration. We implemented multi media filtration for the removal of iron, manganese, soluble substances, and residual chlorine. This is followed by cartridge filtration to remove finer suspended solids.
Reverse osmosis
RO technology is used for the removal of dissolved ionic species in order to achieve the required final product water discharge quality. It also assists in bringing down the pH to around 6.8-7, which limits scale formation.
Disinfection
From there, RO permeate water is fed to the final holding tank. During this process, the dosing pump doses the water with sodium hypochlorite. This ensures all water stored in the final water tanks has a small residual disinfectant present to keep biological growth at bay through to point of use.
Conclusion
The installation of the water treatment system allowed the client to operate primarily on borehole water, as the system delivered a consistent supply of clean water at a rate of 2 400L/hour. The client was able to use this water in their production processes, which did away with the need to use municipal water. The facility’s municipal water supply is now merely a backup supply of water.
Water Purification Solutions is a water treatment company that designs, manufactures, installs, and maintains water treatment systems. Contact us via email at info@iwpsa.co.za or call us on 021 851 2451 to order the Juno Fumigation Packs or to find out more about the the fumigation packs and other disinfection solutions.
