Alantech Achieves 97.5% Water Recovery in Bottled Water Plant – A New Industry Benchmark

Find out how Alantech Industrial Solutions enabled a bottled water company in the UAE to attain an impressive 97.5% water recovery rate, a leading figure in the industry, through the implementation of innovative CCRO technology and smart RO reject reuse, thus significantly minimizing water wastage while maintaining a consistent level of bottling-grade water quality through a high recovery RO system incorporated in a RO water treatment plant designed as a high purity water system.

In a region where water scarcity is a daily reality, this project proves that high-quality bottled water production and extreme water efficiency can go hand in hand.

The Customer

The customer is a large-scale bottled water manufacturer in the UAE, operating in one of the world’s most water-scarce regions. With high daily production volumes and strict regulatory requirements, the plant required absolute consistency in water quality from its RO water treatment plant while also addressing rising concerns around water conservation, sustainability, and operating costs through a high recovery RO system approach aligned with a high purity water system standard.

The Situation

Bottled water production demands perfect permeate quality, there is no room for variation or compromise.

At the same time, the UAE’s limited freshwater resources and increasing sustainability expectations meant the customer could no longer rely on conventional water treatment practices within a traditional RO water treatment plant.

Conventional RO plants have a water recovery rate of only 75-80% of the feed water, thereby causing a substantial loss of water as reject. In the case of a large bottled water production plant, this meant:

• High raw water consumption
• Large volumes of wastewater discharge
• Increased energy and operating costs

The customer required a solution that could meet the needs of the future.

The Challenge

Alantech was tasked with achieving three major goals, simultaneously:

• Provide a consistent, bottling-quality permeate
• Extend water recovery far beyond what is possible with traditional RO
• Do so in a reliable, automatic manner with minimal operator

Achieving very high recovery without compromising water quality or system stability within a high recovery RO system environment was the core engineering challenge.

The Alantech Solution

Advanced CCRO-Based System Design

Alantech engineered the system around DuPontTM patented Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) technology as the primary RO stage within a high purity water system architecture.

Unlike conventional RO systems, CCRO has a closed-loop system, which allows control of:

• Pressure
• Flow
• Recovery

This allows the following to be achieved:

• Reliable operation at high recovery rates
• Low fouling and scaling potential
• Consistent permeate quality

First-Stage Performance:

Alantech was able to recover 90% and produce bottling-grade permeate that meets the required standards using CCRO.

Intelligent Reject Reuse Strategy

Rather than discharging the CCRO reject, Alantech implemented a second-stage RO system operating at 75% recovery.

The permeate from this stage is reused for:

• Bottle washing
• Utility and process water applications

This intelligent reject reuse strategy significantly lowered the freshwater usage and wastewater discharge at the RO water treatment plant.

Automation & Digital Control

The entire plant was designed as a fully automated system, integrated with:

• Advanced PLC & SCADA
• Remote monitoring of flow, pressure, conductivity, and recovery
• Real-time alarms and performance trending

This gave a stable, unmanned process with proactive decision-making and rapid troubleshooting.

The Outcome

Through the integration of CCRO technology, intelligent reject reuse, and automation, Alantech achieved outstanding outcomes:

Customer Results

• 97.5% overall water recovery
• 90% CCRO recovery producing consistent bottling-grade water
• Significant reduction in raw water intake
• Minimal wastewater discharge
• Optimized energy consumption
• Fully automated, low-operator-dependency operation

Overall System Recovery: 97.5%

This particular project is one of the highest levels of water recovery ever attained in the bottled water industry in the UAE.