WATER RECOVERY FROM DRY SNACK MANUFACTURING
Create inventions that enable the reuse of evaporated water captured from dry snack manufacturing. Dry snacks, a category of ready-to-eat snacks, are made by dehydrating input food product with high water content. The result is a dry snack product and a stream of unused wastewater which can be liquid disposed through a sewage system or steam released into the atmosphere through a stack. Snack chip deep fat frying is a common method of producing dehydrated snack food. In this process, raw vegetables or tubers are cooked in hot oil. During this process the naturally occurring water in the raw food is replaced with the cooking oil.
This challenge is focused on the reuse of steam waste streams from dry snack manufacturing such as deep fat frying. Technology that can economically capture and treat the steam to produce process-quality water could reduce plant operating costs by decreasing the potable water input and improve the ecological footprint of dry snacks manufacturing.
Keywords: Water recycling, water conservation, waste heat recovery, wastewater recovery, food processing, ready-to-eat snacks, dry snack processing, potato chip manufacturing, corn chip manufacturing exhaust stack condensate.