Avaliação do uso racional e do potencial de reuso de água: estudo de caso em um frigorífico de frangos

Abstract

Water is a natural resource that has economic and environmental values incalculable. Due to misuse and lack of environmental awareness are frequent problems related to its scarcity and pollution. The agro-industries are large consumers of water, however, to adapt to environmental trends and remain competitive in the market, they have sought the rational use of water through the water management in their activities. Some of them have bothered to use cleaner production technologies and reuse of water in its processes. This case study was conducted in a refrigerated chicken and aimed to identify points of excessive water consumption and propose alternatives for managing water resources through reduced consumption and reuse. Consumption data are pointed out in the stages of the process with emphasis on alternatives to the rational use of water, for example, closing of records during downtime and reuse of water from the cooling of carcasses in the cooling towers. With the use of the suggested measures could get a reduction of approximately 23.893 m3.month-1 of the total volume of water consumed in the area of chickens. From this work it was noticed that the researched company can develop various improvement actions and have an important contribution to the preservation of water resources.