Brewery, UK
This large, independent brewery is based in the UK. The brewery is located in a city centre and neighbours commercial, industrial and residential areas. The brewery operation includes brewing and conditioning of ales and lagers. They have progressed over two centuries to become one of the UK’s top 10 brewers.
One of the usual problems experienced with breweries is the volume and strength of the waste water to be treated varies considerably over time, in line with production. This presents a significant challenge to any process engineering and chemical treatment program.
Problem
Waste water contained high levels of COD and SS. This is very expensive as charges are levied by the local utility company. Fines can also be charged if the levels exceed those set by the authorities.
Solution
Working closely with the Projects and Utilities Manager at the brewery, NCH Waste Water installed four BioAmp™ units in July 2009. The system, which produces over 30 Trillion live and active bacteria, is suitable for the digestion of organic waste associated with brewery waste.
Result
Weekly samples were taken by the utility company from a 24hour composite sampler. There is usually a seasonal trend of decline in COD values in the winter and this was experienced again. However this trend continued downwards into the spring, which was not apparent in 2008. This is even more apparent with SS. Weekly costs for charges decreased dramatically in October 2009. Despite an increase in utility charges generally, they are currently paying much less per cubic meter of waste in 2010 than 2009. By the end of the year the savings totalled £63,578 after cost of the BioAmp™ system was deducted.
