Assessing wastewater heat resources in Zambian food and beverage processing: Case studies, regional assessment, and implications
Wastewater heat recovery (WWHR) aims to recycle low-grade thermal resources embedded in wastewater discharges and lower the energy requirements for hot-water production in various settings. WWHR has received growing attention in recent years, however, limited attention has been given to potential WW...
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Elsevier
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Energy Conversion and Management: X |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259017452500100X |
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| author | Eleanor Mancusi-Ungaro Madhu K. Murali Paul Coughlan Godfrey Hampwaye Derrick Bwalya Tembo Aonghus McNabola |
| author_facet | Eleanor Mancusi-Ungaro Madhu K. Murali Paul Coughlan Godfrey Hampwaye Derrick Bwalya Tembo Aonghus McNabola |
| author_sort | Eleanor Mancusi-Ungaro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Wastewater heat recovery (WWHR) aims to recycle low-grade thermal resources embedded in wastewater discharges and lower the energy requirements for hot-water production in various settings. WWHR has received growing attention in recent years, however, limited attention has been given to potential WWHR resources or the technologies required to exploit these in hot-water-intensive industrial settings, such as food and beverage processing. In addition, very limited attention has been given to WWHR in a Global South context. To address these gaps, and an additional gap on WWHR in subtropical locations, this paper seeks to quantify the thermal resources available in Zambia’s food and beverage industry. Two potential WWHR resources were selected for deeper analysis based on site assessments: boiler blowdowns and cleaning-in-place. This analysis shows a significant heat resource in both processes based on analysis of on-site data and nationwide extrapolation. Cleaning-in place processes also represent a new avenue for WWHR currently not explored in the literature. Extrapolating the WWHR findings to a country-wide scale showed that boiler blowdowns have an annual thermal potential of about 4 GWh and cleaning-in-place had an annual thermal potential of 4.4 GWh. In summary, this paper demonstrates that the Zambian food and beverage processing sector has a significant wastewater heat resource. Recovering this heat could reduce sector emissions by around 2.5 kT CO2 equivalent emissions per year. These results also demonstrate the potential of industrial WWHR in subtropical climates and the potential for this source of renewable heat warrants exploration regionally beyond the national context of Zambia. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c9c1d1eb70554cb78bbd6cb1535108ca |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2590-1745 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energy Conversion and Management: X |
| spelling | doaj-art-c9c1d1eb70554cb78bbd6cb1535108ca2025-08-20T02:31:56ZengElsevierEnergy Conversion and Management: X2590-17452025-04-012610096810.1016/j.ecmx.2025.100968Assessing wastewater heat resources in Zambian food and beverage processing: Case studies, regional assessment, and implicationsEleanor Mancusi-Ungaro0Madhu K. Murali1Paul Coughlan2Godfrey Hampwaye3Derrick Bwalya Tembo4Aonghus McNabola5Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Dublin, IrelandDepartment of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Dublin, Ireland; Corresponding author.School of Business, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Dublin, IrelandSouthern African Institute for Policy and Research, 32a, District Rd, Lusaka, ZambiaSouthern African Institute for Policy and Research, 32a, District Rd, Lusaka, ZambiaSchool of Engineering, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe St, Melbourne VIC 3000, AustraliaWastewater heat recovery (WWHR) aims to recycle low-grade thermal resources embedded in wastewater discharges and lower the energy requirements for hot-water production in various settings. WWHR has received growing attention in recent years, however, limited attention has been given to potential WWHR resources or the technologies required to exploit these in hot-water-intensive industrial settings, such as food and beverage processing. In addition, very limited attention has been given to WWHR in a Global South context. To address these gaps, and an additional gap on WWHR in subtropical locations, this paper seeks to quantify the thermal resources available in Zambia’s food and beverage industry. Two potential WWHR resources were selected for deeper analysis based on site assessments: boiler blowdowns and cleaning-in-place. This analysis shows a significant heat resource in both processes based on analysis of on-site data and nationwide extrapolation. Cleaning-in place processes also represent a new avenue for WWHR currently not explored in the literature. Extrapolating the WWHR findings to a country-wide scale showed that boiler blowdowns have an annual thermal potential of about 4 GWh and cleaning-in-place had an annual thermal potential of 4.4 GWh. In summary, this paper demonstrates that the Zambian food and beverage processing sector has a significant wastewater heat resource. Recovering this heat could reduce sector emissions by around 2.5 kT CO2 equivalent emissions per year. These results also demonstrate the potential of industrial WWHR in subtropical climates and the potential for this source of renewable heat warrants exploration regionally beyond the national context of Zambia.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259017452500100XZambiaWastewater Heat RecoveryBoiler BlowdownCleaning-In-PlaceSector Resource AssessmentFood Processing |
| spellingShingle | Eleanor Mancusi-Ungaro Madhu K. Murali Paul Coughlan Godfrey Hampwaye Derrick Bwalya Tembo Aonghus McNabola Assessing wastewater heat resources in Zambian food and beverage processing: Case studies, regional assessment, and implications Energy Conversion and Management: X Zambia Wastewater Heat Recovery Boiler Blowdown Cleaning-In-Place Sector Resource Assessment Food Processing |
| title | Assessing wastewater heat resources in Zambian food and beverage processing: Case studies, regional assessment, and implications |
| title_full | Assessing wastewater heat resources in Zambian food and beverage processing: Case studies, regional assessment, and implications |
| title_fullStr | Assessing wastewater heat resources in Zambian food and beverage processing: Case studies, regional assessment, and implications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing wastewater heat resources in Zambian food and beverage processing: Case studies, regional assessment, and implications |
| title_short | Assessing wastewater heat resources in Zambian food and beverage processing: Case studies, regional assessment, and implications |
| title_sort | assessing wastewater heat resources in zambian food and beverage processing case studies regional assessment and implications |
| topic | Zambia Wastewater Heat Recovery Boiler Blowdown Cleaning-In-Place Sector Resource Assessment Food Processing |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259017452500100X |
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