The project BioSuck aims to help to redesign the food processing industry with regard to an optimized waste collection system. This shall work via vacuum lines and subsequent processing of concentrated waste. A decision support system (DSS) will be created for the main food processing industries.
The DSS will provide information where and when vacuum lines are advantageous for installation in the food processing industry to collect waste. The concentrated waste shall be further processed with regard to bioenergy production or nutrient recycling. The implementation of such results within the food processing industry will provide benefits for the company.
Those benefits include that the entire efficiency of the food industry will be enhanced. This is attained by significant water-savings (50 – 80%) because of sucking waste away instead of rinsing. Subsequent processing of this water with high organic load will generate products like bioenergy, fertilizers or nutrients (for feeding purposes). In the first place water is saved and thus costs reduced. Even with no subsequent processing the costs for wastewater disposal will be significantly reduced. A company that has problems with high COD load in wastewater can profit from a vacuum system, because then most of the organics can be separated and subsequently valorized. The disposed wastewater is minimized by simultaneously reducing the organic contamination. Besides these economic advantages, a vacuum system allows flexible reacting on changes in the food production process by adapting the controls of the waste management system. Thus, no further investments are necessary.
A company that contributes to BioSuck can directly save money by simultaneously enhancing the sustainability of their production. By contributing to BioSuck in terms of providing waste(water) samples, information about the waste(water) disposal and/or the waste(water) treatment the BioSuck team can evaluate, if a vacuum system is a possible solution for this company.