CASE STUDY
BREWERY
THE BACKGROUND
The production of beer extends nearly as far back as the earliest human history, and the art of brewing produces large amounts of wastewater that can be quite difficult to treat.
Extremely high levels of organics and varying pH levels can wreak havoc on conventional treatment systems.
In fact, with the explosion of popularity of microbreweries over the past decade, many municipal systems have begun imposing heavy surcharges and/or simply refusing to accept brewery waste over a certain volume due to its extreme strength.
THE CHALLENGE
ReUse’s client was faced with discharge limits and surcharges due to effluent violations, while also incurring expenses of trucking waste to another site for disposal ReUse was asked to design an MBR wastewater treatment plant with a small footprint, easy to operate, and which would consistently deliver effluent below the poundage required by the city.
Moreover, the system needed to be delivered in a very compressed timeline. Finally, the system had to be designed to handle robust brewery streams, while producing non-detectible effluent for later use.
Location:
Influent:
Effluent:
Capacity:
Year:
Northern CA
8500-12000 BOD
Non-Detec. BOD
12,000 GPD
2015
FAST FACTS
THE SOLUTION
Faced with the size constraints dictated by the brewery footprint, ReUse introduced a fully modular plant design that incorporates interchangeable, skid-contained tanks. Tanks are used for equalization, aeration and membrane filtration.
All process-required equipment and controls are also contained on the skid, making it a fully-contained unit. As of fall 2015 the plant is in start-up.