Water Integration for Recycling and Recovery in Process Industry

Water is widely used in the process industries as an important raw material. It is also frequently used in the heating and cooling utility systems. Strict requirements for the products quality and the associated safety issues in manufacturing contribute to large amounts of high-quality water being consumed by the process industry. Environmental regulations as well as the growing human population with improved quality of life have led to the growing demand of good quality water. These changes have increased the need for improved water management and wastewater minimisation. The adoption of water minimisation techniques can effectively reduce both the fresh water demand and subsequently the effluent generation in the process industry. This results in the reduced cost for fresh water acquisition and effluent treatment. This paper presents a graphical water integration method based on Water Pinch Analysis. This method locates various network targets prior to detailed design. A case study is given to demonstrate how to synthesise a water network for maximum water recovery with this method.