In a world where the demand for fresh water is growing faster than nature’s capacity to replenish it, and where the food industry accounts for a significant share of global water use, letting millions of liters of post-cooking water be lost as effluent is a luxury we can no longer afford. This project is based on a clear premise: what is currently considered a liquid waste, rich in nutrients, heat, and organic matter, can be transformed into a strategic resource to close cycles, create value, and reduce pressure on water basins.
The opportunity is vast. At the target plant, the food cooking process generates more than 40,000 m³ of post-cooking water annually, which is currently cooled and discharged, losing its reuse potential and adding pollutant load to the treatment system. Through an advanced recovery system combining physical pretreatment, grease separation, precision filtration, and chemical-free disinfection, this project will enable the reuse of 80% of that volume for internal uses (washing, auxiliary services) or even for controlled agricultural applications, with sanitary assurance under WQBA parameters.
This is not just about water efficiency: recovering post-cooking water reduces freshwater intake, lowers the energy needed for cooling, prevents the discharge of high-organic-load effluents, and reduces the demand for tertiary treatment. The entire process is designed under the additionality, traceability, and intentionality principles of the VWBA 2.0 methodology, ensuring that the water benefit is measurable, verifiable, and reportable as part of a Water Positive strategy.
In a global scenario where resource waste is increasingly unacceptable, this project offers a powerful narrative for companies that want to lead with action: transforming what was once an unavoidable loss into a circular asset with environmental, reputational, and economic impact.
The food industry currently faces a dual technical and environmental challenge: on one hand, the high water consumption in thermal processes, and on the other, the generation of effluents with elevated temperature, organic matter, and grease, which increase treatment costs and complexity. At the plant where this solution will be implemented, post-cooking water—rich in fine solids and fats, is cooled before being sent to the treatment system, occupying capacity that could be allocated to other effluents and generating unnecessary energy expenditure.
The proposed intervention captures this flow directly from the thermal process outlet, applies a modular system of heat-exchange cooling, phase separation, and advanced filtration, and subjects it to a final stage of UV disinfection and inline monitoring. The result: regenerated water suitable for non-potable uses within the plant or for controlled irrigation, meeting both local and international standards. The technology, validated in agri-food environments, ensures the removal of more than 99% of solids and pathogens and can be integrated with heat recovery systems for energy reuse.
The benefits are immediate: 25–30% reduction in freshwater consumption, energy savings in cooling, lower organic load to the treatment plant, and improved operational efficiency. In the medium and long term, the project contributes to the facility’s water resilience, reduces the water footprint per unit produced, and generates reportable water replenishment credits.
This model is replicable in any industry that uses large-scale cooking or blanching processes, from vegetable canning to meat processing, and seeks to reduce its dependence on external water sources. In a market where reuse regulations are tightening and ESG expectations are rising, leading with such a solution not only ensures compliance: it positions the company as a benchmark in water innovation and circularity.
The proposal includes the installation of a modular treatment system that captures post-cooking water, cools it, removes organic matter, and disinfects it without chemicals through an inline process optimized for thermal and variable load conditions. The system integrates multiple technologies, including gravity separation assisted by electromagnetic induction, which destabilizes fat emulsions and colloidal proteins, enabling their removal without external flocculants or coagulants.
Next, the water undergoes controlled cooling and a final disinfection stage via AOP or high-intensity UV radiation, ensuring pathogen elimination without producing harmful byproducts. The regenerated water reaches the required quality for safe reuse in non-potable tasks such as tray cleaning, non-contact surface pre-washing, and secondary thermal systems.
The system operates fully autonomously and includes sensors for flow, conductivity, COD, turbidity, temperature, and microbiological load, all integrated into a SCADA system for real-time monitoring. Full traceability is ensured through historical digital records, facilitating both internal management and external auditing. Its modular and compact design allows rapid installation without disrupting the existing production line or compromising food safety protocols in line with Chilean regulations and international standards (HACCP, ISO 22000).
Applied Technologies: The proposed system combines various treatment technologies adapted to the complex nature of the effluent generated in the ham cooking process. The first stage involves thermo-physical separation through temperature-assisted decantation and centrifugal separation devices, allowing for the removal of coarse solids, floating fats, and denatured proteins. This step improves the efficiency of subsequent stages by reducing the initial organic load.
A chemical-free electromagnetic coagulation module follows. This technology uses alternating electric fields to destabilize fat emulsions and colloidal proteins, forming flocs that settle or float for easy mechanical extraction. This approach eliminates the need for chemical reagents, reduces sludge volume, and eliminates the risk of toxic byproducts.
Disinfection is achieved through high-intensity UV systems or advanced oxidation processes (AOP), using activated peroxides or radiation combined with catalysts to destroy pathogens and persistent organic compounds. These technologies ensure safe treated water without residual chemicals.
The entire system is interconnected via a SCADA architecture that enables real-time monitoring of key physicochemical parameters: flow rate, temperature, conductivity, turbidity, COD, and TKN, along with automated alarms for operational deviations.
Monitoring Plan: The monitoring plan follows a full traceability approach, with sensors placed strategically at system inlets and outlets. Ultrasonic flow meters measure the exact volume of treated and reused water. Water quality sensors continuously record turbidity, conductivity, COD, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and temperature. Monthly validation is performed through external laboratory analysis to ensure compliance with Chilean reuse standards.
Digital traceability is ensured via the Aqua Positive platform, where real-time operational data is recorded, including volumes of reused water, reduced pollutant loads, and system efficiency. This information is complemented by semi-annual external inspections to verify additionality and permanence of benefits, in line with VWBA 2.0 and WQBA guidance.
Implementation Partnerships: The project implementation is supported by a collaborative framework. The plant operator leads system integration within the production line. The technology provider supplies the treatment modules, tailored to the specific configuration and flow of the ham cooking process.
An independent certification body will verify the benefits in terms of recovered water volume and water quality improvement, using internationally recognized methodologies. Partnerships are also anticipated with CORFO and the Sustainability and Climate Change Agency for innovation funding and project scaling.
The plant, located in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago (Chile), is a specialized facility dedicated to the production of cooked ham and other value-added processed meat products. During its daily operations, one of the processes that demands the highest volume of water is the thermal cooking of hams, where large quantities of hot water are used to ensure the pasteurization of the product, guaranteeing its microbiological safety and organoleptic quality. As a result, this process generates an effluent with a high thermal load, organic matter (animal fats, soluble proteins), salts (mainly chlorides), and nitrogenous compounds. This mixture constitutes a wastewater stream that is difficult to treat using conventional technologies, representing both a significant loss of water and an environmental challenge due to its pollution potential.
Currently, the plant operates with a basic pretreatment system that only allows for the primary removal of solids and oils, without any capacity for water reuse or recovery. In response to this scenario, the project proposes a circular economy solution based on the recovery of post-cooking water for subsequent treatment and recirculation within the same industrial process. The proposal includes a modular and scalable technological solution, tailored to the complex nature of the effluent and designed to operate continuously without disrupting the plant’s production dynamics.
The proposed treatment system integrates several synergistic stages: a physicochemical separation to remove suspended solids and fats, followed by a coagulation module induced by electromagnetic fields to destabilize emulsions and colloidal proteins. Subsequently, the water undergoes thermal stabilization and is disinfected through ultraviolet (UV) processes or advanced oxidation technologies (AOP), which ensure the elimination of microorganisms without the use of chemical agents. The regenerated water is then used for internal industrial activities such as cleaning trays, floors, and feeding heating systems, meeting the required technical and sanitary quality standards, and without contact with food or critical surfaces.
The system is equipped with real-time monitoring through integrated sensors that measure flow, temperature, chemical oxygen demand (COD), conductivity, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and turbidity, generating continuous and auditable records. This technical traceability enables the validation of benefits using recognized methodologies such as VWBA (Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting) and WQBA (Water Quality Benefit Accounting), providing objective metrics on the volume of water reused and the contaminant load avoided.
From a sustainability perspective, this project is strategically aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
