MBR/RO at heart of PepsiCo reuse plant in Chile

A membrane bioreactor (MBR), reverse osmosis (RO) and ultraviolet (UV) disinfection are all part of a wastewater treatment and reuse plant upgrade being completed by Siemens Industry Automation Division for PepsiCo in Chile.

As part of the upgrade, the snack-food manufacturing facility in Santiago is increasing its wastewater treatment capacity by 20% and incorporating environmentally beneficial technologies.

The Siemens system will lower fresh water consumption by up to 70%. It is expected to become operational in April 2012.

At the Santiago facility, most of the wastewater first passes through an extensive starch recovery system and is then screened before it moves on to primary treatment, which includes oil and grease removal. After this stage, it will flow to a MemPulse MBR system that will separate and treat liquids and solids.

From the MBR, the water will be pretreated before it passes through tertiary treatment, including an RO system and a Barrier M UV disinfection system, both also from Siemens. The integrated reuse solution is more advanced than conventional wastewater treatment processes, producing consistently high-quality effluent in a smaller footprint.

A remote supervision system will allow MBR performance parameters to be monitored online from Siemens’ technology center in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA.

The integrated solution will help eventually reduce the amount of fresh water used in making potato chips and other snack food lines at the Santiago plant by an estimated two-thirds. Wastewater treated by the Siemens system will be reused in various internal manufacturing processes.

The installation is part of a corporate initiative to help standardize water reuse at PepsiCo facilities throughout South America.

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