摘要
Large quantities of fresh water are used intensively in the washing, cutting, peeling and disinfection of fruits and vegetables, resulting in high solids loading of the wash-water. Review of the literature shows that there is limited information available on how to treat this wash-water on-site. Accordingly, an investigative program was established by sampling wash-water from two industrial partners processing root vegetables to determine the best available approach. Bench scale technologies tested for solids removal were dissolved air flotation （DAF） and centrifuge, followed by ultraviolet （UV） disinfection to evaluate the potential for water reuse. The results showed that DAF and centrifuge were able to remove solids at an efficiency greater than 95%. The DAF process was also able to remove higher levels of dissolved matter and nutrients in comparison to the centrifuge. The DAF process was also able to produce waters with higher transmittance, which leads to improved filtration and UV disinfection for water reuse. Membrane filtration feasibility testing showed that high quality waters can be produced as low as 2 NTU and 4 NTU, following pretreatment with DAF and centrifuge, respectively. However, filtration was unable to remove E. coll. Collimated beam results show that UV disinfection is needed to allow for water reuse.
