Per: Carlos Alberto Mendes Moraes (universidade do vale do rio dos sinos - unisinos), rAMON aNSCHAU (unisinos), Ana cristina curia (unisinos), carlos alberto mendes moraes (unisinos)
Abstract:
The increase in the consumption of mineral water shows the concern of the world's population with the purchase of healthier products. However, due to the small financial margin with the sale of the product, there is greater competition between companies and the use of resources for production processes must be known and minimized, without impacting quality. This research aimed to understand and stratify energy consumption in the different stages of the production process of non-carbonated mineral water in 500 ml packages, seeking to apply improvements through Cleaner Production (P+L) concepts. Knowing the potential environmental impacts of the main stages of the production process was also one of the objectives of the study. For this, the main and auxiliary processes were detailed through flowcharts of inputs and outputs and later the Survey of Environmental Aspects and Impacts (LAIA) was carried out. After demonstrating that approximately 70% of energy consumption is required to manufacture the packaging, one of the suggested improvements was the manufacture of lighter preforms. This made the process 8% more energy efficient, in addition to contributing to the possibility of reducing up to 195 tons of PET resin per year, which brought economic gains, in addition to reducing the generation of solid waste. The reduction in blowing pressure, another improvement implemented, generated a 23% reduction in energy consumption associated with the generation of high pressure compressed air.