Al Rawabi sees the light with Hanovia UV system: Clean water, without chlorine aftertaste

Al Rawabi is one of the UAE’s largest milk producers, with 10,000 dairy cows, and plans to expand. The firm uses water to clean out its milk production lines, and wanted a ‘clean’ system to ensure the biosecurity of its water – and therefore its milk – and also wanted to manage the capital and operational costs, according to Halim Mirza, regional manager for the Middle East and Africa at Hanovia.

So much for the after-taste​

“Al Rawabi Dairy wanted very biosecure water, but didn’t want any aftertaste – which they have had when disinfecting with chlorine. ​

"The water comes from various sources – borehole, the city supply – and that contains harmful pathogens. We connect our systems onto the client’s piping system, and provide the UV and control systems​,” said Mirza.

He said Al Rawabi is now using one of Hanovia’s PureLine UV medium-pressure ultra-violet lamp systems: “As the water flows through, we vary the energy of the UV lamp, according to the flow rate and the type of pathogens in the water, so we destroy those pathogens. ​

"Then the water flows out, to the client’s process. UV is one of the last stages in the water treatment process​.”

UV light is a powerful antibacterial agent – according to Mirza, either the client will advise on the pathogen profile they want to target, or else the water sources will be analysed, and Hanovia, the client and a consultant will agree on the pathogens which need to be destroyed.

“Some organisms are more resistant than others – for example, E. coli is a relatively easy organism to eradicate with a low dose of UV light. There are other organisms and viruses where you need much higher doses. ​

"Our units are designed so that we can look at the amount of water the client wants to treat per hour, we look at the level of bacteria in the water, and how much the client wants to reduce the microbial load – and then we size and select the correct type of UV system​,” said Mirza.

New low-energy system​

This month Hanovia is also preparing for the Middle East launch of its new line of ultra-violet water treatment systems - PureLine UVEO (ultra-violet energy-optimised) - at the Dubai Drink Technology Expo.

“We’ve listened to beverage producers – one of their main concerns is that water is scarce, but at the same time it’s contaminated with bacteria. They want biosecure water – but there’s a balance that has to be struck with the capital costs and operational costs of the system​,” he said.

“One of the main features of the new UVEO system is it uses 60% less energy – that’s a big, bold statement to make. With that comes the technology we have – because we’ve hydraulically optimised the system, we are limiting the range of units we have to a single lamp system, instead of offering multiple lamps, or multiple units working in parallel​,” added Mirza.