Claudia Villalobos
Emerging as the first model of integration, production, and innovation that incorporates its technology, the Water Purification Plant of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) is a clear example of entrepreneurship in this university, which supplies the needs of drinking water consumption in some of its facilities and at the same time promotes the development of new technology to make its processes more efficient.
Inaugurated on September 21, 2021, the plant, which started with the distribution of only 42 jugs, is becoming more and more consolidated as an area of open innovation, innovation, and integration of IPN technologies, training, and knowledge transfer. It currently delivers around 800 20-liter containers a week to 67 IPN facilities.
"The production plant seeks to integrate the principles of the circular economy to achieve the sustainability of its processes," said Dr. Josué Peñaloza Espinosa, project coordinator of the Secretariat for Innovation and Social Integration of the IPN, who explained that this business model operates under a production system that provides a product with implicit procedures aligned with strict adherence to current regulations and quality standards.
In addition, the real environment of the production process becomes a propitious space to strengthen the professional training of students and graduates interested in performing their social service, professional internships, and research projects for their degree.
The IPN Water Purification Plant has the potential to become the first "Showroom" of the IPN, as it allows the promotion of the technological scaling of prototypes and promote their transfer.
Likewise, and depending on the identification of needs, it enables the integration of innovations to shorten or improve the Plant's key or support processes. "As part of the generation of these technologies, a mechanism created by the Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica (ESIME), Unidad Culhuacán, will soon be implemented, which will automate the washing of demijohns," said Peñaloza Espinosa.
The human right to water is indispensable for living in dignity and is a precondition for the realization of other human rights. That is why water should be treated as a social and cultural good, not only as an economic good. It is under this premise that the Instituto Politécnico Nacional strives every day to offer its community water of the highest quality.
Master of Science Lluvia Castillo Ortiz, head of the Directorate of Incubation of Technological Enterprises (DIET) of the IPN, highlighted the responsibility of making water processed under national quality standards available to IPN students.
"It is both a challenge and an opportunity to strengthen this model, which is an open laboratory to integrate technology and generate innovation from the Politécnico, in addition to strengthening the team of DIET professionals who collaborate and are fully committed to the project."
Castillo Ortiz emphasized that consolidating the production process requires multidisciplinary collaboration, which is why close collaboration is maintained with certified IPN laboratories to ensure compliance with quality norms and standards, which is essential because the health care of many people is at stake, including babies in the "Centros de Desarrollo Infantil" (Cendis).
"Consumers of IPN water can be certain that the quality of the product is guaranteed, our efforts and commitment are geared towards this."
Training, Education, and Certification
Since the plant began operating and to date, 17 social service providers have been incorporated in the production, quality, maintenance, safety, environmental, logistics, and purchasing activities.
The IPN Water Purification Plant is like a mechanism since the processes fit together and work in a coordinated manner. Biochemical engineers Lucía Alonso Ángel, plant manager, and José Luis Salazar Vizuet, in charge of operations, combine their knowledge and experience acquired over more than 18 years in the industrial sector to make the operation of the polytechnic plant possible through the work and implementation of the ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45000 quality systems.
The operation of the plant is mainly governed by three Mexican Official Standards: NOM-251-SSA-2015, referring to good manufacturing practices, compliance with which is mandatory for all food industries; NOM-201-SSA1-2015, which is related to the processing of water for human consumption; and NOM-127-SSA1-2021, focused on the quality of the raw material (the drinking water that arrives in the pipes).
The process begins with the arrival of a water pipe at the plant. Before unloading, a visual inspection of the transport is carried out to ensure that the tank is free of rust (the containers must be stainless steel), and have security seals to ensure that it was not opened on the way and to rule out adulteration of the liquid.
Subsequently, the young social service and work experience providers take a sample of the raw material and, using specialized kits, carry out a physicochemical analysis to determine the dissolved solids, pH, and hardness of the water to verify that it meets the quality parameters and is suitable for discharge into the storage containers through a special connection. Between 4 and 5 pipes (about 20,000 liters) are processed per week, depending on demand.
The plant has two containers with a capacity of five thousand liters each. This makes it possible to have a balance of loading and unloading flows; while water is being consumed from one, the other is ready to be filled by the pipe. "This logistics allows us to have traceability control. Each pipe that arrives at the plant has a specific follow-up to know when it is used and how many demijohns were filled; this balance allows us to have very precise control," explained the engineer Lucía Alonso.
Before discharging the water, the containers are subjected to a disinfection control that consists of adding 13 percent sodium hypochlorite. Based on the amount of chlorine in the water from the pipe, a calculation is made of how much is needed to bring the tank to a maximum of 3 parts per million of chlorine (following the internal control parameters of the quality system).
The added chlorine disinfects the tank and eliminates any microorganisms sensitive to this disinfectant in the liquid. However, the amount of parts per million chlorine is measured again to store the "raw water" that will undergo the purification process.
"With a sand filtration process, solid contaminants that the water may have been eliminated, then it is subjected to a filter with activated carbon to remove the added chlorine, as well as any aroma or flavor from the well where it was extracted. It also passes through a polishing filter (cellulose) to retain small particles and/or possible minerals," said Mr. Salazar Vizuet.
After the filtration stage, the liquid is subjected to ozone treatment and then exposed to ultraviolet light to ensure the safety of the product and eliminate any remaining chlororesistant microorganisms.
Per environmental regulations, biodegradable detergent is used to wash the outside of the jugs. Chlorinated alkaline detergent and a pressure washer are used to clean the inside of the carafes. They are then rinsed with purified water before packaging. The previously disinfected lid is placed and sealed with a heat gun with a plastic label indicating the production date and expiration date of the product, which is stored in a specific area before being loaded for distribution.
Good logistics are essential for the distribution of "agua politécnica". Distribution has grown steadily since the plant began operations; therefore, in 2022 an order-picking system was implemented to deliver the product promptly.
It is important to note that the customers with the highest consumption of the liquid are the 5 Cendis, the Sports Activities Department, and the Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria de Ingeniería y Ciencias Sociales y Administrativas (UPIICSA).
"The only requirement for the polytechnic agencies to request water supply is to have federal resources for that purpose, the weekly consumption is calculated and the order is placed," said the head of administrative services of the Directorate of Incubation of Technological Companies, Ana Elizabeth García Aguilar, who noted that the project has provided her with new experiences on a personal and professional level since it is very satisfying to receive words of thanks from all the polytechnic agencies for the quality and service provided to them.
As with any food product, once its expiration date expires, water loses its guarantee of safety, since it can be transformed and undergo sensory changes (odor, color, taste, and susceptibility to the development of microorganisms) as it is contained in a plastic container. Currently, the quality of polytechnic water is microbiologically validated to be preserved in good condition for 45 days; however, through the development of specific methodologies, we will seek to extend the best-before date.
Water requires specific care to keep it in good condition. An essential aspect is to keep it in a cool place at room temperature. It is important not to store it in hot places and, above all, to avoid exposing the jugs to the sun's rays, since they are made from a plastic polymer called polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and the effect of solar radiation encourages microbial growth and creates conditions conducive to the growth of algae inside the product.
Although the IPN Water Purification Plant uses containers that do not contain a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA), their exposure to the sun favors the generation of some other chemical compound that can affect the liquid. For this reason, it is incorrect to keep the bottles in places with high temperatures or under the sun's rays.
Water is an element whose quality has an impact on human health, hence the importance of continuously monitoring the production process. At the end of each of the two shifts in which the plant operates, a meeting is held between the production managers and the team of collaborators to review the quality, safety, environmental, production, and logistics aspects that occurred during the workday. The results of each evaluation are plotted and, in the event of any deviation, immediate strategies are established to correct it, thus maintaining quality standards by the corresponding regulations.
The demand for purified water at the IPN is growing, so the company plans to incorporate different technological developments to renew and improve the industrial process. Increasing the volume and reducing production time will increase distribution. Through the Water Purification Plant, this university reaffirms its commitment to water supply and the health care of its community, while seeking links with other institutional scientific and technological projects to enable the transfer of the model to the productive sectors.
The plant works closely with certified IPN laboratories to ensure compliance with quality norms and standards.
INSTITUTO POLITÉCNICO NACIONAL
D.R. Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN). Av. Luis Enrique Erro S/N, Unidad Profesional Adolfo López Mateos, Zacatenco, Alcaldía Gustavo A. Madero, C.P. 07738, Ciudad de México. Conmutador: 55 57 29 60 00 / 55 57 29 63 00.
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