Technologies for the Treatment and Reuse of Wastewater in the Food & Beverage (F&B) Sector

In the Food and Beverage (F&B) sector, a large amount of wastewater is generated, as most of the water is used in various processes across different industries within this sector. The main industries in the F&B sector comprise those involved in the processing of meat (beef, poultry, fish, and pork), and those in the dairy and beverage (e.g., beer, soft drinks, etc.) production. The wastewater generated mainly contains organic and inorganic load, which can be processed in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), reducing their biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total suspended solids (TSS) to achieve the standards requested by law. This thesis aims to evaluate the usefulness of De Nora’s technologies in the treatment of wastewater derived from the F&B sector; while considering the traditional pollutants present in the wastewater of the F&B sector, as well as the challenges posed by the removal of emerging contaminants. In this thesis, a pilot proposal for the EU’s Horizon Europe program is presented based on De Nora’s technologies, detailing its potential advantages and/or resource recovery for specific applications in the F&B sector. The case studies considered for this project proposal were a poultry industry in Norway, a dairy industry in Greece, and a potato processing industry in Belgium. These industries were considered by De Nora to remove emerging contaminants within their wastewater effluents, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pharmaceuticals that contribute to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and pesticides that are becoming a threat to human health. The technologies in combination that were considered for the study are ozonation, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), granular activated carbon (GAC), ionic exchange resins, and electrochlorination. These solutions are predicted to be optimal for removing most of these pollutants; a key project indicator (KPI) was set to a 70- 80% removal of the targeted pollutants to ensure the effectiveness of the applied technologies. This solution is innovative due to the production of biocides on-site, reducing the handling of hazardous chemicals and avoiding the need for transportation, packaging, storage, etc. Moreover, thanks to the technologies offered by De Nora, a pilot plant was proposed that is adaptable and aims to save water, reduce costs, resources, and recover valuable nutrients relevant to the F&B sector.