The ROI of process water disinfection: understanding the true costs and benefits

Process water disinfection is essential for a stable and safe production process in sectors such as food, chemical and feed production. Yet the true costs of disinfection often remain underexposed. An investment in alternative technology such as the Watter system therefore often raises the question: what does it deliver? In this blog, we discuss the Return on Investment (ROI) of process water disinfection and how you can calculate it.

What determines the cost of conventional disinfection?

Traditional disinfectants, such as sodium hypochlorite or chlorine dioxide, seem simple and cheap at first glance. Yet there are several cost items that should be involved in a full cost calculation:

• Purchase cost of disinfectant: price per litre or kilo.
• Logistics and storage: transport, storage facilities, shelf life, administration of hazardous goods.
• Personal protective equipment (PPE): gloves, goggles, respiratory protection, mandatory safety equipment.
• Labour: manual dosing, monitoring, maintenance of dosing equipment and administration.
• Waste disposal: residues and empty containers.
• Plant wear: some agents are corrosive to pipes, gaskets or pumps or UV lamps need to be replaced.
• Process disruptions: downtime or reduced process reliability due to microbiological fluctuations such as biofilm or corrosion.

These costs are not always visible in the direct purchase price, but do count in the total cost of the disinfection process.

The alternative approach: in situ HOCl with the Watter system

The Watter system produces an on-site disinfectant based on hypochlorous acid (HOCl) exclusively from water, salt and electricity. This eliminates many of the cost items mentioned above. When calculating ROI, one must therefore look more broadly than just the purchase of the system:

Saving categories:

• No purchase and transport of chemicals
• No PPE required in normal handling of the system
• Reduced working time for dosing, administration and quality control of the agent
• Long service life of system components due to low corrosivity when dosing correctly
• Higher process stability due to constant availability of fresh disinfectant
• Reduced risk of non-conformities due to microbiological deviations

Water reuse and lower process temperatures: additional profit factors

Besides direct savings on procurement and labour, effective process water disinfection offers additional opportunities for cost reduction:

1. Water reuse

A stable microbiological quality of process water makes it possible to safely reuse water flows (such as rinse or cleaning water) within the production process. This reduces not only water costs, but also discharge or pre-treatment costs. In water-intensive industries, this can save up to thousands of euros a year. The prerequisite is that the water remains microbiologically controlled - something that constant, in situ produced, HOCl dosing effectively contributes to.

2. Lowering process temperatures

Conventional CIP or cleaning processes often use high temperatures (60-85°C) to reduce microbial risks. By using an effective disinfectant that remains active even at low temperatures, the temperature of rinsing or disinfection steps can be reduced in some cases. This results in:

• Lower energy costs
• Less load on heat exchangers and installations
• Extension of the service life of seals and pipes

In many cases, this leads to a reduction in energy consumption in cleaning cycles.

ROI calculation: what does it look like in concrete terms?

A simple calculation starts by recording the current annual costs for conventional disinfection. Make an overview of:

1. Purchase current disinfectants (including transport and storage costs)
2. Purchase of PPE and safety equipment
3. Labour costs for handling (moving, mixing, dosing)
4. Costs of installations (e.g. replacement of lamps when using UV or corrosion)
5. Costs due to possible downtime/loss due to microbiological contamination
6. Potential savings through increased water reuse*
7. Potential savings through energy saving lower water temperature*  

Add up these costs and do this times ten. This is because the Watter system will last at least ten years.

 * Note: Potential savings in water and energy consumption are not included in this calculation. Such benefits can only be determined after the disinfection process has been optimised and depend on several variables, such as water quality, process design and reuse possibilities.

Would you like to know how quickly the investment in the Watter system is recouped? Then use the form below and quickly request your ROI calculation:

In conclusion

The true ROI of process water disinfection lies in the total cost of ownership. If you factor all aspects - from chemistry, PPE and labor to energy consumption and water reuse - into the equation, you discover that in situ disinfection can be a cost-effective alternative to conventional methods.