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Abstract
In this paper a systematic Concept for Retrofit Optimisation of Water Networks (CROWN)
is presented and applied to a liquid detergent production plant. For this problem the
identification of recycle loops, the choice of applicative unit-operations and the mathematical
optimisation of the system under economic constraints is considered. The importance of the
experimental verification of implemented devices is emphasised.
# 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.
1. Introduction
Fig. 1. Concept for retrofit optimisation of water networks CROWN. The experimental verification is
focused. The iterative loops after every design step are not displayed here.
B. Goers et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 37 (2003) 217 /226 219
forward recipe, but most of the iterative loops have not been visualised for reasons of
clearness.
. Change of the CIP regime in the production of conditioners: The plant is now
only cleansed when a change to a ‘white product’ occurs (this measure results in a
80% decrease of conditioner CIP wastewater). Verified experimentally.
. Implementation of conductivity sensors in the CIP wastewater system to control
the length of the cleaning cycle. Verified experimentally.
. Modification of the CIP-procedure recipe considering different product viscos-
ities. Verified experimentally.
Fig. 2. Sankey diagram of the water network of the liquid detergent production (data from 1999, the
stream diameters are proportional to the corresponding amounts).
220 B. Goers et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 37 (2003) 217 /226
For the identification of possible sinks for recycle water the constraints concerning
the permitted concentrations of organic and inorganic components have to be
defined by the plant operator. This often turns out to be a difficult task because for
reasons of quality most of the recycle sinks available can not be utilised and reduce
the degree of freedom for network optimisation drastically. In many theoretical
studies this problem is neglected.
The generation of process options is the next step. It has to be considered that
during process option generation usually split factor models are used for the
separation/regeneration units as it is done in the water pinch theory and therefore is
supposed to be independent of the choice of unit operations.
Most of the water demand of this site is used for the production water for the
detergent liquid (Fig. 2). No recycle water is allowed to be used here. The disposals
of the CIP wastewater batches with high loads of detergent products are economic-
ally the most important streams. This CIP water subsystem is the most interesting for
the implementation of regeneration-recycle loops. The surfactants are the key
components in these streams; additional components are dyes, salts, ethanol and
other additives.
Based on this consideration the streams to be regenerated (CIP wastewaters), the
demands on the regeneration process and the possible sinks for recycle loops (first
CIP procedure, soft water supply, sewer) can be identified. Therefore the reduced
Fig. 3. Simplified water network in the liquid detergent plant with possible regeneration recycle loops.
B. Goers et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 37 (2003) 217 /226 221
network given in Fig. 3 has been identified to be the most relevant for retrofit
activity.
The separation efficiencies, water conversion factors and qualities of the purified
water differ for the different treatment processes. Additionally the non-linear
dependencies on operation parameters and concentrations of components force
the use of complex process models.
Once a regeneration target is determined a feasible unit-operation has to be
identified. The first step usually is based on heuristics (Belhateche, 1995; Grund,
1998). Information about driving force, capacity and restrictions to specific
compounds of the wastewater has to be considered. In some cases unit operations
can be combined in order to take advantage of the performance of coupled units.
The key species in the CIP wastewater are basically surfactants. Auxiliary
substances like salts, dyes, perfumes, ethanol and others only can be found in low
concentrations. The organic load of the CIP wastewater varies in the range of 60 /
120 kg COD/m3. As it was found in the experiments a prefiltration is recommended.
For the separation of surfactants from aqueous solutions the following feasible unit
operations are given in literature:
. Ultrafiltration (UF) for the retention of surfactant micelles (Akay and Wakeman,
1993)
. Nanofiltration (NF) for the retention of surfactant monomers (Goers and Wozny,
2000)
. Fixed bed adsorbers (Dabiri et al., 2000)
. Foam fractionation (Tharapiwattananon et al., 1996; Morgan and Wiesmann,
2001)
. Biological degradation (Schreiner et al., 1999)
Fig. 4. Feasible process options for the treatment of the CIP wastewater.
regarded here. The recycle stream usually has to be disinfected (e.g. electrochemical
disinfection or ozonation).
Table 1
Normalised binary model parameters for different CIP water solutes
Membrane: Osmonics Desal D5K. The reference values are the parameters for MgSO4.
224 B. Goers et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 37 (2003) 217 /226
Fig. 5. Membrane screening results for a detergent CIP-wastewater (detergent 1:9 dilution) with different
UF and NF membranes. The experiments were performed at T/25 8C and constant permeate flux
(adjusted by transmembrane pressure). The mean non-surfactant DOC is about constant.
ness) and the salts (solubility, etc.) have to be considered in the model, too. This
example illustrates the importance of a common wastewater data model. This
database must be compatible to the predictive multi-component model approach for
the unit operations. And additional problem is, that such a model is often not
available or has to be developed (as shown in this study).
The costs are modelled via the calculation of capital values for the process options
(operational costs and capital costs). Expenses for streams going over the treatment
system boundaries (concentrate disposal, rest DOC load of recycle water, etc.) are
considered in the operational costs.
For the model-based optimisation, two different methods have been used. The
membrane unit itself has been optimised by a MINLP algorithm (number of stages,
permeate recycles, operation parameters, Beuster et al., 2000). The membrane unit
then was coupled with a model of a biological treatment step (Schreiner et al., 2002).
For three process options the operation parameters again were optimised with an
SQP algorithm. The options have been:
. Three stage membrane system: NF/UF/UF (cascade of feed and bleed stages) with
recycle of the disinfected NF permeate to the process (Fig. 4, top).
. Three steps UF cascade (feed and bleed) with biological treatment of the UF
permeates.
B. Goers et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 37 (2003) 217 /226 225
. Three steps UF cascade (feed and bleed) with biological treatment of the UF
permeates and recycle of the disinfected effluent stream to the process (Fig. 4,
bottom).
In both cases, the costs for the concentrate stream have been assumed to be zero.
The design solution is very sensitive to this parameter. The capital values for the
process options where calculated for different discounting periods (Fig. 6). As it can
be seen, the alternative with biological treatment and recycle is the best economic
option in the long run. The reason is that despite of the higher capital costs
compared to the NF/UF process the lower energy consumption (low pressure UF at
4 bar) brings an economic benefit as well as the fact that the DOC cannot be reduced
far enough by the NF process. From other calculations with different economic
constraints the conclusion can be drawn, that the optimum process scheme varies
with the cost factors for the product streams (disposal of concentrate, product
recovery, energy costs).
Fig. 6. Capital values for the different process options for different discounting periods n .
226 B. Goers et al. / Resources, Conservation and Recycling 37 (2003) 217 /226
Acknowledgements
Financial support for this project by the German Research Foundation DFG is
gratefully acknowledged.
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