Water treatment in the beverage industry costs can be very high. Water is an important component of a lot of beverage and food products. It can be used as an ingredient and this is why beverage and food processing industries require a lot of water for various activities such as clean-in-place, washing, boiling, cooling and processing purposes.

For each of the above applications, the resulting liquid waste or wastewater needs to be treated in order to comply with the regulations. If companies do not abide by the regulations, the fines can be high. Read on as we look at the challenges facing the beverage and food industry and how to reduce wastewater treatment costs.

The challenge of managing wastewater in the food and beverage industry

Food and beverage processing companies generate a lot of wastewater resulting from the high volumes of water used. Wastewater must be treated properly before being released into the environment to prevent any risk or harm to human health and the environment.

Wastewater that comes from the beverage and food industry has high concentrations of biological oxygen demand, total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, oils, fats and grease. Not only do these pollutants increase the cost of treatment, but they can also be difficult to manage.

High wastewater charges affecting the bottom line

Food and beverage manufacturers have the choice of paying for wastewater treatment for the food industry services. The easiest option is to send wastewater from the food and beverage industry to a municipal treatment plant after chemical treatment. Industries that opt for this should pay a trade effluent charge. The charge is determined by different factors including the effluent quality and volume. The more wastewater there is to treat, the higher the strength and the more the cost for the companies. The trade effluent costs can be very high and can have a significant effect on the bottom line of the company.

Surcharges on food and beverage processing companies

Since food and beverage wastewater has high strength, it means more chemicals, energy, capacity and manpower are required to treat it. Sending wastewater to a municipal wastewater treatment plant is not exactly the most sustainable solution.

The wastewater should be treated before being discharged to levels that will not harm the receiving waters because of excess oxygen and nutrients or won’t cause irreversible damage to treatment works that are owned by the public when discharged to sewers.

Municipalities often impose a surcharge on the processors to offset these expenses. Surcharge costs continue to rise every year as wastewater treatment infrastructure deteriorates, energy prices increase and water scarcity intensifies.

Beverage and food companies pressured to treat their own wastewater

Since the costs of water treatment in beverage industry are always increasing, water scarcity, stricter environmental legislation, and rising social awareness on the water footprint of beverage and food processing operations, manufacturers are investing in high-quality on-site wastewater treatment. This involves treating wastewater in-house. For large beverage and food manufacturing plants, this is a very favourable option that can save a lot of money.