PROTÓTIPO PARA REAPROVEITAMENTO DA ÁGUA REJEITADA NO PROCESSO DE DESTILAÇÃO

Abstract

Water is an indispensable natural resource for life on planet Earth. It holds immense environmental, social, and economic value, fundamental to the survival of humans and ecosystems on our planet. Proper water resource management should consider reuse as an integral component, as it not only generates savings but also helps prevent water scarcity. In Brazil, water is primarily used for crop irrigation, public supply, industrial activities, energy generation, mineral extraction, aquaculture, navigation, tourism, and recreation. This study addresses the issue of water waste during the distillation process and is dedicated to developing a system to reuse the rejected water generated during the process, aiming to generate savings and reduce waste. Comparing the two production methods, we can observe that while the usual production method uses approximately 8,580 liters (distilled + waste) of water over 12 months, the proposed production method in this study uses only 627 liters of water, as all the water rejected in the process will be reused for new distillations. The results demonstrated that, due to the significant savings generated by the proposed system compared to the current model, the project can be implemented and replicated in other university laboratories. The findings also highlighted that this water reuse system is an excellent sustainable alternative for managing water resources.