Beverage can manufacturer Royal Can Making Co is evaluating a closed-loop water recovery system for its canmaking operations in Iraq.
Speaking at the Canmaker Summit in Shanghai, China, Chirine Hamaied, Royal Can’s world-class performance manager, told delegates that as part of the company’s sustainability roadmap, it is working on a waste-water recovery pilot with a yet unnamed China-based company.
Beverage can plants, of which Royal has two sites, use water to clean D&I aluminium cans in the manufacturing process.
“In this project, we are evaluating a closed-loop water recovery system that treats water and returns the recovered water into manufacturing,” she explained. “Currently, we are evaluating the technical feasibility, the recovery performance, and operating costs.”
Hamaied spoke about Royal Can’s success with some of its recent sustainability initiatives for waste water, including its Sludge Cake initiative, which converts waste water into solid material. It is produced during waste water treatment after removing contaminants from the process water. The waste is then converted into solid bricks for easier handling.
“We carefully treat our wastewater using five chemicals to penetrate against the government’s water quality standards,” she continued. “Why we needed a better solution? This question was raised at the initial phases of the project, and many points were raised. One of the points is that Sludge Cake can become a useful resource instead of a waste. This is why we have to move away from traditional landfilling. We have a clear objective, which is 0% landfill, 100% divergent through sustainable alternatives.”
Instead of relying on a single option, Royal Can developed two: cement co-processing and eco-blocks manufacturing. The former was the first and primary route, as it is an internationally recognized solution in which wastewater is converted into sludge as a resource for cement production. For this, the company partnered international company Lafarge.
The second route, eco-block manufacturing, sees sludge cake converted and used in the manufacturing of blocks. “For this application, sludge cake is crushed and blended with cement and other block-making materials. Different choices were tested at the beginning in order to find the mixture that provides both environmental value and acceptable structural performance.
Royal Can Making Company is now working on its closed-loop water recovery system, which it hopes will be operational in 2027.
“These initiatives all come together under one bigger role, which is our objective of creating a long-term environmental legacy. Our meter for success is not how many lines we add, how many cans we produce, or how much energy we produce. Rather, it’s how harmless the production process is done, and how responsibly we produce.”