Water and wastewater eco-efficiency indicators for the sugar cane industry

The consumption of large volumes of water and the generation of organic compounds as liquid effluents are major environmental problems in sugar cane processing industry. The volume of freshwater required by this industry can be significantly reduced by recovering the intrinsic water present in sugar cane. This amount of freshwater will depend on the process technology. Three new indices for sugar cane plants are introduced in this work: WIN, which indicates the efficiency of water use, and EIN1 and EIN2, which quantify Chemical Oxygen Demand of wastewater. Selected case studies illustrate the advantages of employing these indices as guides for the selection among process design alternatives that account for environmental performance.