ETP for Instant Noodle Manufacturing

India is the world's fourth-largest instant noodle market, with Nestlé (Maggi), ITC (Yippee!), Patanjali, HUL (Knorr), and CG Foods (Wai Wai) operating large manufacturing plants across the country. The instant noodle manufacturing process generates a characteristically complex wastewater that combines two of the most challenging components in food industry effluent treatment: high palm oil and vegetable fat concentrations from the frying process, and high starch loads from the dough and noodle processing operations. Spans Envirotech has the specific process experience — developed across food and FMCG ETP projects including packaged food and snack manufacturers — to design effective, reliable ETPs for this industry.

The instant noodle manufacturing process creates wastewater from multiple distinct points in the production line. Dough mixing and extrusion generate starchy water with noodle breakage from conveyor cleaning and floor washing. The steaming stage produces condensate and floor wash water with dissolved starch and protein. The frying stage — where formed noodle cakes are immersed in palm oil at 140–180°C — is the dominant source of wastewater contamination: frying bath changeovers, fryer cleaning operations, and frying fume condensate all introduce high concentrations of oxidised palm oil (often rancid and difficult to biodegrade) with oil and grease values of 500–5,000 mg/L.

After the frying stage, noodle cakes pass through a cooling tunnel and then a seasoning and packaging section. Seasoning application (powdered or liquid flavour sachets containing salt, MSG, spices, and oil) creates additional wastewater from line cleaning and reject product disposal. The combined effluent from a mid-sized instant noodle plant typically carries BOD 1,500–5,000 mg/L, COD 3,000–10,000 mg/L, TSS 400–1,500 mg/L, and oil & grease 200–2,000 mg/L — all far above CPCB discharge limits and requiring multi-stage treatment.

Spans' ETP design for instant noodle manufacturing starts with primary treatment focused on oil and grease removal, which is the critical prerequisite for effective biological treatment. A passive fat trap captures free-floating oil from the equalisation influent. The equalisation tank is designed with 10–16 hours of HRT and bottom aeration to prevent anaerobic decomposition of starch and oil, which would generate hydrogen sulphide odours and make downstream treatment harder. From equalisation, the effluent feeds a high-efficiency DAF system with ferric chloride and polyelectrolyte dosing — specifically selected to break palm oil emulsions that form when oil contacts the caustic and acid CIP chemicals also present in the effluent.

Following DAF pre-treatment — which reduces oil & grease to <50 mg/L and TSS by 60–70% — the primary treated effluent enters MBBR biological treatment. The MBBR system uses plastic carriers with 800–1,200 m²/m³ of biofilm surface area, maintained in aerated tanks at dissolved oxygen levels of 2–4 mg/L. The biofilm degrades dissolved BOD and COD to <50 mg/L and <200 mg/L respectively, producing a biologically treated effluent that — after secondary clarification and tertiary sand + activated carbon filtration — meets CPCB discharge standards of BOD <30 mg/L, COD <250 mg/L, TSS <100 mg/L, and oil & grease <10 mg/L.

For noodle manufacturers in water-stressed zones of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, or Gujarat facing SPCB ZLD mandates, Spans designs ZLD-upgradeable ETPs where the tertiary treated effluent from the standard ETP feeds an RO system, with RO reject treated through MVR evaporation and ATFD to achieve zero liquid discharge. The recovered water — both RO permeate and MVR condensate — is reused for CIP, cooling towers, or boiler makeup, achieving 90–95% water recovery.