Minimization of water consumption and wastewater discharge in the sugar cane industry

A comprehensive model has been developed for water minimization and wastewater discharge in the sugarcane industry. As starting point, it is considered that each production unit has a specified consumption of water that must be supplied from the fresh water sources or from one of the sources of regenerated water. In agreement with the concentration of contaminants either the water streams can be reused without treatment, or the best treatment alternative can be selected (taking into consideration its cost and contaminant removal efficiency). The streams are assigned to a treatment system and then the details of the quantities of water that will be reused are calculated. The application of the proposed methodology a case study based on a industrial situation is presented.