Hector Mendez Cepeda
EGADE Business School Tecnologico de Monterrey
Fernanda Concha
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Through the use of bacteria and innovative water treatment processes, GRUMA is able to reuse 90% of the water that nixtamalization requires, thus saving 5.5 billions of liters of water per year.
The process of nixtamalization consists in the transformation of corn into a nutritionally richer product that can then be used to make tortillas and other corn products.
This process uses up to 6 millions of cubic meters of water per year, and the water couldn't be purified and reused.
GRUMA improved its water treatment process to be able to reuse up to 90% of the water wasted in the process, and by reusing this water they were able to make a product with improved nutrients.
This translates into 5.5 billion liters of water saved per year only by GRUMA, while also avoiding the disposal of used water in rivers that could pollute bigger masses of water.
GRUMA continues to invest to reuse up to 97% of this water in the future.
The uncontrollable amount of water needed for the process was causing an impact in the ecosystem that was near the plants that had this nixtamalization process. They needed a more sustainable process that wouldn't destroy its surroundings.
The overall impact of this innovation is:
The benefits of this innovation to the business include:
The benefits to society and the environment are:
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Nicolas Martinez, Environmental Manager
The process of transforming corn into tortillas uses thousands of millions of liters of water each year.
Through innovation in the treatment of water that is used in the process, they are able to reuse it and save 90% of the original consumption and obtain products with better nutrients.