Article
Of the total water expenditure, 70% is devoted to the food industry (source: FAO). In fact, the activity that consumes it in the highest proportion is agriculture and livestock farming, followed by industry and, lastly, by the tertiary sector and human consumption. The importance of water in this activity is, therefore, indisputable, as it ensures the production of safe and quality food.
The usage of water in the food industry is essential in order to produce any type of food, but, more often than not, large volumes of water are required to do so. In addition, the characteristics of water for industrial use are that it must be potable and available in sufficient quantity and at the right pressure and temperature for each of its applications. Consequently, water consumption in the food industry has a great impact on the location in which the company operates; thus, an efficient water management derived from the implementation of water conservation strategies for industrial use is an exercise of responsibility towards the environment and towards the communities that have been most affected by the effects of climate change, as limiting water utilisation helps to prevent phenomena such as desertification, which endanger the viability of ecosystems.
For this reason, Gradhoc offers you this guide on the benefits of saving water in the food industry, on how to implement a water saving plan in an industrial company and on water conservation strategies for industrial use.
Saving water in the food industry is one of the most pressing sustainability issues, both for the public sector and the companies’ boards. This is because the use of this resource is essential for industries’ operations, but its cost is high, it is becoming a scarce commodity and having access to it is increasingly complex due to the impact of climate change (increased droughts and floods, diminishing or absence of rainfall, etc.).
Therefore, we could state that the factors affecting water’s consumption in the food industry and its cost (ordered from least to most influential) are:
Likewise, the costs associated with water are not limited to utilisation costs, as detergent, heating and water treatment costs must be taken into account, and, as a result, an optimised water management is critical. This implies making a controlled and responsible usage of water, which also involves returning it to the environment in a safe way, both in order to save costs and to reduce a business’ carbon footprint. For these reasons, it is extremely important to know which the characteristics of water for industrial purposes are, something that, in turn, will allow us to better understand how we can save water.
Although having its origin in surface water, groundwater, rainwater or seawater (treated in a desalination plant), potable water for industrial applications is usually obtained via a municipal supply network or a private well. This origin determines its quality and whether prior treatment is necessary to ensure compliance with safety standards. If the supply networks are private, the food company will be directly responsible for the treatment and continuous verification of the quality and safety of the water, so it must be equipped with appropriate facilities for its storage, treatment and distribution, guaranteeing its safety and quality at all times.
Under certain conditions, the agri-food industry may take advantage of non-potable water (e.g., for firefighting or steam production), but these sources must be adequately signalled and must have a separate connection to that used for food production.
However, this information is not enough to undertake a water-saving project in the food industry, since establishing a good plan means analysing which processes and equipment use water and for what purpose.
Water consumption in the food industry is significant in:
Once the characteristics of water as an indispensable resource for food production have been explained, it is possible to understand that saving water will benefit your:
In spite of this, it will not be possible to get the most out of the management of this resource if a comprehensive and ambitious water saving plan is not designed and put into place. For this reason, we will now explain the steps to establish a water-saving plan.
In order to save water, we must design a plan that allow us to identify the water-consuming processes, as well as to detect opportunities for the implementation of water conservation strategies for industrial use. This plan should include the following phases:
Nowadays, there are advanced technological tools that allow this study to be carried out by means of a software, a monitoring system through which information can be extracted. Thanks to these applications, continuous control and improvement processes are greatly facilitated, since we will receive instantaneous data and records that are analysed in order to serve as the basis for strategic decision making.
These strategic decisions materialise in the form of a series of proposals for improving water efficiency. The actions that are to be implemented, therefore, must be specifically designed for the business in question; however, in this article we are going to mention the most widely supported proposals.
Food industry software. As mentioned, the initial study, the detection of inefficiencies and the continuous improvement of the plans are based on monitoring, i.e., on the knowledge of the real functioning of our industrial plant. To achieve this, the main measure that can be applied is the implementation of food industry software solutions. Thanks to this, we will be able to detect and discern which of the different water saving measures are the most convenient depending on our specific case. In addition, this will make it possible to guide the adoption process and to measure its exact impact per production line, per production area or per individual water consumption point.
Water conservation strategies for industrial use are always aimed at increasing water savings without compromising food quality and safety in any way. These include the following.
Many of the country’s large corporations and SMEs have already implemented most of the measures described. In order to reduce their environmental impact, brands have set targets to reduce their annual water consumption, which has allowed them to reduce the amount of water needed to manufacture each product (litres of water per product). Others have gone further and they have set the objective of returning 100% of the water they use in their products through the NGO’s replenishment projects, which are also promoted by the UN, the UNESCO and the World Water Council. This is a clear sign of the importance of water consumption in the food industry, as well as of the need for water saving measures.
However, there is still room for improvement, as water reduction initiatives’ effect is measured in relation with its general impact, but calculations per consumer, per production area or per type or process are not carried out.
The digitalisation of this sector, in this sense, makes it possible to move towards Industry 4.0, which integrates food industry software into all respects of the company’s activity to achieve much higher levels of efficiency. An advanced monitoring and control system such as Gradhoc enables the monitoring of any type of indicator, so that its applications go beyond optimising water efficiency and may improve the operability of all the equipment involved in the production process.