Improving water efficiency in the beverage industry with the internet of things

The food and beverage industry is one of the most water-intensive industries, with water required for various processes (e.g., washing, cooking, cleaning) at almost every stage of the production, as well as being a key constituent in many food and drink products. Therefore, a real-time efficient water management strategy is imperative, and the novel internet of things (IoT)-based technologies can be of significant help in developing it. This chapter presents the architecture of an IoT-based water-monitoring system followed by the demonstration of a case study of a beverage factory wherein the monitoring system helped understand the detailed water usage as well as finding solutions and addressing overconsumption of water during the manufacturing processes. The successful deployment of IoT helped reduce the annual water consumption by 6.7%, monitor water usage in real-time, and improve it.