Water Purification for Food Production
(EU-INTAS)

The conditioning of raw water for the use as feed for beverage and food production requires the correction of the concentrations of several constituents in water. Currently, in the Ukraine and in Moldova the most ubiquitous tasks are the following:

• Simultaneous removal of humic substances (HS), trihalogene methanes (THM), iron (III), aluminium and hardness from tap water.
• Simultaneous removal of total dissolved solids (TDS), iron (II), manganese and hardness from well water.

Within the frame of the project, the use of one or a combination of different ion-exchange adsorbents with programmed structural and optimised chemical properties for the simultaneous adsorption of water impurities and their effective desorption by inexpensive and environmentally safe eluents will be studied.

The general objective of the project is to development novel, highly effective and low-cost technologies for the water purification in the Ukrainian and Moldavian beverage and food industries.

The specific technical and scientific objectives of the project are as follows:

• To determine the typical forms and compositions of impurities in water used as feed for beverage and food production.
• To investigate the adsorption-desorption of HS (including HS-metal ions complexes) by polymeric adsorbents and to develop the criteria for choosing the optimum adsorbents for the purification of water of different types.
• To investigate the adsorption of HS, THM and heavy metals from tap water by carbonaceous adsorbents having programmed porous structures and to determine the properties of the optimum adsorbents.
• To investigate the processes of mineral composition correction and undesirable impurities removal from water by ion-exchange adsorbents with programmed properties and to investigate the regeneration of the adsorbents.
• To create pilot plants to test the developed technologies under real conditions in order to determine the parameters of the optimum technological performance (up-scaling).
• To develop multi-module layouts for high-effective feed water treatment plants for the Ukrainian and Moldavian food and beverage industries.

The new technologies are based upon the application of polymeric and carbonaceous materials characterised by programmed properties. The industrial test of the water treatment technologies to be developed within the frame of the project under different conditions will allow to determine the optimum parameters for the application of the results. The development of new and effective methods for the simultaneous correction of mineral water composition and HS and THM removal will decrease the number of stages in water treatment layouts and will not only significantly decrease the water treatment costs for the food and beverage production enterprises but will also guarantee high quality and healthiness of the products on a constant level.

The project is supported by means of the INTAS programme of the European Community. The Institutions involved in the project are:

1. The Engler-Bunte-Institute of the University of Karlsruhe (EBI), Water Chemistry Division, Karlsruhe, Germany (Co-ordinator).
2. The National Technical University of Ukraine (KPI), Kyiv, Ukraine.
3. The Institute for Sorption and Problems of Endoecology, National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine (ISPE).
4. Polytechnical University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania (PUP).
5. Chemistry Institute, Academy of Science of Moldova, Chishinau, Moldova (CI).