New liquid sensing technology reduces plant water use

A new generation of real-time liquid sensing technology could help beverage manufacturers significantly reduce water consumption while increasing production capacity, according to new data from Collo.

The Finnish deep-tech company says trials at a high-capacity global beverage plant show that improved visibility into cleaning processes can enable factories to reclaim up to 4 million litres of treated water annually by optimising clean-in-place (CIP) cycles.

The findings highlight a growing challenge for beverage producers operating in regions with tight water permits or increasing water scarcity, where environmental limits can restrict production growth.

Revealing inefficiencies in CIP processes

According to Collo, the study identified 23 minutes of potential optimisation per cleaning cycle after its radio-frequency (RF) analyser was deployed on the production line.

Traditional liquid monitoring technologies rely on conductivity or optical sensors, which measure only limited properties of liquids. As a result, beverage plants often rely on fixed-time cleaning cycles to guarantee hygiene, leading to over-rinsing of pipelines.

Collo’s RF-based measurement technology instead analyses the full liquid composition in real time, allowing operators to determine the exact moment a production line is fully clean.

Data from the plant suggests the approach could deliver measurable operational gains:

• 4 million litres of treated water saved annually (1,568 litres per cycle across approximately 5,000 cleaning cycles)
• 24% reduction in cleaning downtime, returning additional time to production
• The potential to increase output without raising total water intake
• Decoupling production from water consumption

Jani Puroranta, CEO of Collo, said the issue should be viewed as a production constraint as much as a sustainability challenge.

“We have to stop viewing water waste as just a sustainability metric when in reality it’s a growth bottleneck. When a plant flushes 24% of its cleaning water down the drain due to outdated sensing, it is flushing its potential to scale. Collo provides the real-time data needed to reclaim that capacity and turn it back into production time.”

Many large beverage facilities operate under strict water entitlements that cap total water use, meaning production expansion can require additional permits or infrastructure investment.

Collo argues that more precise liquid monitoring could allow manufacturers to increase throughput while staying within existing water limits, effectively decoupling production growth from water consumption.

A new approach to liquid measurement

The company’s technology uses radio-frequency measurement to send an electromagnetic field through the entire liquid stream, enabling volumetric analysis rather than relying on surface-level measurements.

According to Collo, the four core measurement approaches currently used in liquid processing have remained largely unchanged since the late 19th century, creating blind spots in modern production environments.

The technology is already being used by several global food and beverage manufacturers, including Coca-Cola, Danone and Valio, where it is applied to detect product deviations and identify quality issues earlier in the production process.

For beverage producers facing increasing regulatory pressure on water use, the data suggests that advanced process sensing could become a key lever for both sustainability and capacity expansion in high-volume liquid processing plants.