Recovering spent clean-in-place chemicals
Clean-in-Place or “CIP” systems are commonplace in food manufacturing. They provide necessary cleaning and sanitation of food processing and food contact surfaces to ensure products are safe and fit for consumption. While the volume of chemicals varies by industry, their existence is a necessity to ensure compliance with food safety and food manufacturing regulations the world over.
Traditional methods for the “neutralisation” of these chemicals involve the addition of offsetting chemicals. Caustics are added to Acids, and Acids to Caustics, to neutralise the pH and avoid damage to downstream infrastructure and (ultimately) the environment. While generally effective, the practice of neutralisation of cleaning chemicals is not impact-free. The chemical reactions involved create by products such as salts which are then released to downstream treatment and/or direct to the environment. For example, neutralising NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide) with HCl (hydrochloric acid) results in the formation of NaCl (Sodium Chloride) and H2O (water). The issue is the salt and what impact this has downstream of the food production where it becomes “invisible” and “someone else’s problem”. The presence of these salts in trade waste subsequently requiring expensive downstream treatments and impacting the capacity of municipal treatment systems. Ultimately these salts find their way into the environment and contribute to the degradation of soils and waterways. While the formation of salts is less harmful than discharging caustics or acids directly to the environment, it is not harm-free.
So how do we reduce and ultimately eliminate this issue when it is a direct consequence of necessary processes to protect the food chain? At a time where costs are increasing exponentially, and environmental compliance is becoming stricter due to the compounded effect of decades of “best practice”, we cannot afford to ignore the problem or pretend someone else will deal with it any longer.
Unfortunately, the answers have been few and far between, and typically require investment beyond the value of any perceived benefit. In short, the cost has outweighed the incentive. Until now. Our latest case study addresses the issue of CIP recovery and reuse, creating for the first time a cost-effective solution that delivers proven benefits both financially and environmentally. Our approach is simple; if we cannot eliminate then we must reduce and reuse as much as possible. Creating circular economies around wastewater and cleaning system chemicals to reduce environmental harm not only makes sense, but it is also increasingly imperative.
Hydroxsy’ patented membranes are designed to withstand long term exposure to these harsh, chemical environments. Resilience across the pH range and tolerant to high temperatures and even Chlorine sanitisers means our membranes are ideally suited to managing situations where alternative membranes and technologies have failed. We have proven the ability of our systems to reuse caustics, acids, and sanitisers at least 8 times. Our system also recovers water and energy to further reduce the footprint of cleaning systems. And because our membranes operate at low pressure, the energy required to run the system is low, leading to other enhancements including carbon footprints created in the treatment of wastewater streams.
We do this within a single process, using the same membrane to recover chemicals for reuse. Every “reuse” creating significant advantages in cost reduction while enhancing the environmental impact by recycling and reducing the volume of chemicals and salts used in cleaning systems.
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