HIGH STRENGTH WASTE

STREAMS FROM

MICROBREWERIESA Case Study in Permitting Beale’s Beer in the Town of Bedford, VA

AGENDA

General review of the brewery process, terminology, and equipment.

Give an overview of the types and sources of wastewater in breweries.

Provide typical ranges of pollutant concentrations before pretreatment.

Give an overview of problems associated with this type of discharge.

Present case study of permitting the local microbrewery in the Town of

Bedford, Virginia.

Solutions to help deal with high strength sidestreams.

Permit special conditions to help manage the facility’s discharge moving into

the future.

Sources of Effluent Loading

Source Operation Characteristics

Mash Tun Rinsing 3,000 ppm BOD

Cellulose, sugars, amino

acids

Lauter Tun Rinsing 10,000 ppm BOD, TSS 3,000 ppm from

cellulose, sugars, spent grains

Spent Grain Last runnings/washing Cellulose, nitrogenous material, very high

TSS (30,000 ppm), up to 100,000 ppm BOD

Boil Kettle Dewatering Sugars, nitrogenous residue, BOD of 2,000

ppm

Whirlpool Rinsing spent hops and

Hot trub

Proteins, sludge, and wort, TSS of 35,000

ppm with BOD of 85,000 ppm

Fermenters Rinsing Yeast, 6,000 ppm TSS, up to 100,000 ppm

BOD

Storage Tanks Rinsing Beer, yeast, protein, 4,000 ppm TSS, 80,000

ppm BOD

Sources of Effluent Loading

Source Operations Characteristics

Filtration Cleaning, start up; end of filtration, any

leakage

Excessive TSS (up to 60,000 ppm), beer,

yeast, proteins, up to 125,000 ppm BOD

Beer Spills Waste, flushing, etc. 1,000 ppm BOD

Bottle Washer Discharges from washing operations High pH; high TSS & BOD

Keg Washer Discharge from keg during kegging operations Low TSS, ~ 400 ppm

Higher BOD levels

Miscellaneous Discharged cleaning/sanitation materials;

floor washing; flushing water, any boiler

blow-down, etc.

Relatively low TSS and BOD, but problem here

is due to pH and other chemicals discharged

to the sewer.

Typical Ranges of Brewery Untreated “End-Of-Pipe” Wastewater Effluent

PARAMETER TYPICAL RANGE

Water to beer ratio 4-10 liter/liter

Wastewater to beer ratio 1.3-2.0 liter/liter lower than water to beer ratio

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) 600-5,000 ppm

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) 1,800-5,500 ppm

Nitrogen 30-100 ppm

Phosphorus 30-100 ppm

pH 3.0-12.0 S.U.

Total Suspended Solids (TSS) 200-1,500 ppm

Effluent from individual process steps is variable.

1) Washing bottles produces a large volume but contains only a minor amount of

the discharged organics from the brewery.

2) Effluent from fermentation/filtering will be high in BOD and low in volume.

3) These account for about 3% of total volume but about 97% of all BOD.

4) Average pH of combined effluent will be about 7.0; but can fluctuate from 3.0

to 12.0 depending upon the use of acid and alkaline cleaning agents.

5) Waste beer pH normally falls between 4.0 and 5.0.

6) CIP effluent temperatures average about 86 degrees F.

Most brewers discharge over 70% of their incoming water as effluent.

Beale’s Beer – Case Study in Permitting

Initial Water Authority testing revealed high temperature of the cooking wastestream: 38

degrees C.

Conductivity was around 7600. Other analysis results:

BOD in excess of 6200 mg/l TSS of 10,500 mg/l

TDS of 19,500 mg/l Zinc of 1.10 mg/l

Copper of 0.404 mg/l COD of 36,500 mg/l

Phosphorus of 17.3 mg/l Nitrogen as Ammonia of 12.1 mg/l

LAB RESULTS

LAB RESULTS

CASE STUDY: BEALE’S BEER

Local limits:

BOD: less than 1,000 mg/l

COD: less than 2,000 mg/l

TSS: less than 1,000 mg/l

Ammonia: less than 100 mg/l

Copper: less than 0.2384 mg/l

Zinc: less than 0.3935 mg/l

Other metals with limits: cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel.

Oil & Grease less than 350 mg/l

POTW

Design flow: 2.0 MGD

Dry weather daily average flow: 1.2 MGD

Discharge limits:

1) BOD: 6.97mg/l monthly; 10.5 weekly average

2) TSS: 30mg/l monthly; 45 weekly average

3) Ammonia: 1.4 mg/l (June – December)

4) Lead: 6.8 ug/l

5) Zinc: 59 ug/l

POTW

If 1,000 mg/l BOD loading enters plant, we can meet our weekly average

discharge concentration but exceed our monthly average if this loading

consistently enters our plant.

Lead is not a concern at the present time.

Copper high levels are coming from brand new copper pipe. Ought to reduce

over time as interior surface of pipe becomes tarnished.

The BOD loading is a major concern because the plant is designed for

extended aeration. This is to fit the footprint of this older plant and allow for

acceptable effluent discharges.

Variable pH levels would cause us problems without some sort of equalization

onsite of the brewery.

Permitting Classification

Determined to classify brewery as a SIU based upon potential to seriously

impact the biological processes of the treatment plant.

Brewery discharge comes to plant via a gravity line and does not go through any of

our pump stations.

Future expansion is part of their business plan.

May very well add a bottling line to the kegging operations.

Brewing both ale and lager beers.

They have ten fermenting vessels for use.

What happens if off-site disposal at a farm disappears in the future?

CIU designation could only apply if milling of grain was constant.

WEB LINKS

http://www.epa.gov/npdes/industrial-wastewater

http://www.birkocorp.com/brewery/white-papers/wastewater/

http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?numbers-c992

http://brewerywastewater.com/

http://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/equipment-systems/wastewater-basics-growing-craft-brewery/

http://clrblu.com/case-study/real-ale-brewing-co-tackles-discharge-limits/

RESOURCES

Brewers Association Homepage – Water and Wastewater : Treatment/Volume

Reduction Manual

Brewers Association Homepage – Wastewater Management Guidance Manual

Brewery

Look under Resources and then Publications.

Contact Info

Eric Rajaniemi, IPP Coordinator

Bedford Regional Water Authority

1723 Falling Creek Road

Bedford, VA 24523

E-mail: erajaniemi@brwa.com

Phone: 540-586-7679, ext. 105