METHOD OF REDUCING INDUSTRIAL WATER USE

• US 20150183673A1
• Filed: 12/30/2013
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Inventors: Musale, Deepak A., Sivaswamy, Vaideeswaran, Bhole, Yogesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,850,154 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 13/00 Accessories or details of general applicability for machines or apparatus for cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 9/28 the apparatus cleaning by splash, spray, or jet application, with or without soaking
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/28 by sorption using ion-exchange C02F1/42; sorbent compositions B01J
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/38 by centrifugal separation
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/441 by reverse osmosis
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/442 by nanofiltration
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/444 by ultrafiltration or microfiltration
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/52 by flocculation or precipitation of suspended impurities C02F1/463 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2103/02 Non-contaminated water, e.g. for industrial water supply
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2103/023 Water in cooling circuits
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2103/32 from the food or foodstuff industry, e.g. brewery waste waters
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2103/325 from processes relating to the production of wine products
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2303/04 Disinfection
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2303/20 Prevention of biofouling
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2303/24 Separation of coarse particles, e.g. by using sieves or screens
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 9/00 Multistage treatment of water, waste water or sewage

Abstract

The invention provides methods and compositions for reducing the amount of water required in an industrial process, especially a bottling process such as beer or beverage manufacturing. The method comprising the steps of: collecting water used to rinse cleaned and/or dirty recycled bottles, spraying the collected water at a food contacting piece of equipment as part of a CIP rinse, and passing the CIP second rinse water into a cooling tower as make-up water. The method allows for the re-use of water already in the system but by being careful where each water stream goes the water does not accumulate contaminants that would damage the cooling tower or foul the bottled product or vessel that is cleaned by CIP method.

Claims

1. A method of reducing the amount of process fluid required in an industrial process, the method comprising the steps of:

collecting fluid used to rinse cleaned and/or dirty recycled bottles,

applying a CIP rinse process to a food contacting piece of equipment, the CIP rinse process comprising at least one first rinse and at least one second rinse,

spraying the collected fluid at a food contacting piece of equipment as at least part of the fluid used in the CIP first rinse

passing the CIP second rinse fluid into a cooling tower as make-up fluid.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the piece of equipment is a kettle used in brewhouse of a beer manufacturing process.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the fluid is water.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising conditioning the fluid after it is collected by a coarse particle removal step and/or a fine particle removal step.

5. The method of claim 4 in which the device used for particle removal steps include cyclone separator, centrifugation, screen filter, bag filter, paper filter, MMF, sand filter, MF, UF- or combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprising adding a flocculant to the fluid before particle removal steps.

8. The method of claim 4 further comprising adding an adsorbent to the fluid before particle removal steps.

9. The method of claim 4 further comprising adding acid to the fluid before particle removal steps.

10. The method of claim 4 further comprising passing the fluid through a heat exchanger to reduce the fluid'"'"'s temperature to ambient temperature.

11. The method of claim 10 in which the heat exchanger is cooled by the cooling tower water.

12. The method of claim 1 in which the rinse is the first rinse of a CIP process.

13. The method of claim 1 in which all of the rinse water for first rinse is fluid from the bottle washer step.

14. The method of claim 1 in which all the make-up water is fluid from the CIP second rinse step.

19. The method of claim 1 in which the collected fluid is optionally disinfected before spraying on the food contacting piece of equipment

20. The method of claim 4 in which after the fluid has been conditioned the collected fluid is optionally disinfected before spraying on the food contacting piece of equipment and in which the disinfection is carried out by chemical means including hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, bleach, sodium or calcium hypochlorite, chlorine dioxide, chlorous acid, chloramines and ozone, or using Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, or combination thereof.

15. A method of recycling bottle wash water for use in an industrial process, the method comprising the steps of:

collecting fluid used to rinse cleaned and/or dirty recycled bottles,

applying a treatment process adequate to remove sufficient amounts of colloidal and soluble contaminants thereby allowing the fluid to be used in an industrial process requiring water which is cleaner than the collected fluid.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

reducing the fluid to ambient temperature,

adding adsorbent to adsorb some surfactants in the fluid,

precipitating aluminum by reducing the pH to 6.5 to 7.5,

clarifying the fluid to remove precipitated solids,

removing residual solids by a method selected from those consisting of;

MMF, MF, centrifugation, and any combination thereof,

removing colloids by UF, and

removing dissolved matter by NF/RO.

17. The method of claim 16 in which the fluid is then passed to an industrial process fluid stream selected form those consisting of:

CIP, pasteurizing, cooling tower, boiler, crate washing, belt lube, vacuum pump sealing, floor washing, and any combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 16 in which a fresh water source is also passed into the industrial process fluid stream, the amount of fresh water being insufficient for the industrial process to be successfully completed but for the presence of the fluid.