Operational Group: Efficient use and management of water in food processing
- Type Operational group
- Execution 2017
- Assigned Budget 9.800,00 €
- Scope Autonómico
- Autonomous community Cataluña
- Main source of financing PEPAC 2014-2020
- Project website https://ruralcat.gencat.cat/documents/20181/5202516/Redacci%C3%B3+GO_2016_009_C…
The Foodservice Clusters and the Catalan Water Partnership (CWP) Operational Group has assessed the water cycle within two subsectors of the Catalan food industry. The objective is to characterize opportunities for generating efficient solutions, promote innovative projects in the production process, and analyze the implications of water use for food products.
A strategic focus based on common challenges, taking into account the comprehensive management of water—incoming water, process water, and wastewater generated (under parameters of quality, efficiency, and cost)—with the goal of optimizing the production process and achieving more sustainable water management, reducing the environmental impact of the sector's production process.
The specific objectives, to achieve the main objective of generating the most efficient opportunities and solutions throughout the sector's water cycle, are:
- Selection of 5 representative companies from the Food Services sector to identify the stages of the production process through ad hoc surveys and plant visits.
- Evaluation of possible improvements for the most efficient management of production plants and analysis of the implications of water use for food products. Particular attention will be paid to seeking potential innovative projects or uses of innovative technologies, and the results obtained will then be communicated to the entire sector.
All proposals are focused on achieving the three objectives set:
- Savings in operating costs.
- Brand differentiation towards the consumer.
- Social/environmental responsibility, as can be seen in the following list of innovative projects:
- Study of the possibilities of using alternative water sources for food sector entities, in order to optimize costs associated with water consumption.
- Monitoring water consumption in different production processes to identify key control points and corresponding measures to reduce water consumption and/or recirculate water flows.
- Promoting a project to boost water reuse in the food sector to address the social, economic, and technological barriers associated with water reuse.
- Promote the circular economy around integrated water management in the food sector.
- Study of the effects of water quality on different food products with water addition. Evaluation of food characteristics based on water quality, as well as evaluation of the effects of water on both machinery and customer-perceived quality. Potential development of a custom filtration system.
- Promoting the implementation of monitoring and control systems adapted to the food sector's purification process, in order to provide decision-support tools that enable process optimization.
- The development of a water footprint calculator tool for the different subsectors of the food sector
The results achieved have been, first and foremost, to fill a gap not being addressed by any other association, such as promoting solutions, projects, and knowledge through good practices in water management, and doing so jointly with the help of experts from the CWP Cluster, which brings together companies, research centers, and universities specializing in water management.
The final result of the creation of the operational group has allowed us to position water management as a key element, not only from a legal or environmental perspective, but also as a tool for promoting the sector's competitiveness, both through cost efficiency and positioning it with an end customer who is increasingly aware of the importance of water management.
- Coordinator/entity name: Foodservice Cluster Association of Catalonia
- Coordinator/entity email: autrera@clusterfoodservice.org
- Associació del cluster foodservice de Catalunya
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