Performance Evaluation of Brewery Biological Wastewater Treatment Plant

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of biological treatment plant of a brewery located at Rajasthan, India. The biological treatment consists of anaerobic treatment through anaerobic hybrid reactor (AHR) and conventional aerobic treatment (Activated Sludge Process (ASP)). The results showed that the COD removal efficiencies ranged between 46.96 % -89.71% for anaerobic treatment at an Organic Loading Rate of 0.9 -3.6 kg COD/ m3/day. The COD removal efficiency after aeration was in range of 12% to 74%, making overall removal efficiencies of COD after Anaerobic (AHR) and Aerobic system to be between 75% to 97%. This paper includes effluent characterization, treatment scheme and performance of a brewery ETP under study. In addition to it, the problems associated with the operation and maintenance of brewery Effluent Treatment Plant was discussed and suitable recommendations were made based on its performance.

Industrial Symbiosis: Beer Brewery Wastewater-Based Biorefinery

“…The water added at this stage is warm, approximately between 78°C and 80°C, and then mixing is done. The mix is left to settle for a definite amount of time according to the recipe [8,14,35,36].…”

“…Spent grains as waste are generated at a 14-19-kg dry wt per hL of a standard 4% alcoholic content beer [37]. This waste is unhygienic and is characterized of high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and strong odor [8,14,35,36].…”

“…Fig. 2 Brewing process and its wastewater generation [8,14] while they cannot be reused as animal feed. At the end of the boil, re-circulation takes place.…”

“…The hops are removed using the same methodology as the removal of wort from the grain, and the cooled wort is distributed in the fermenter. The hops as waste are generated at a 14-kg dry wt per hL of a standard 4% alcoholic content beer [8,14,35,36].…”

“…The concept has been extended to the formulation of a biobased economy that has been estimated to grow globally by 2020 to GBP £191 billion in value (GBP £59 bn at 2005, GBP £96 bn at 2010) generating up to 380,000 jobs (120,000 at 2005 and 190,000 at 2010). However, currently biobased goods replace only 0.2% of petroleum-based goods, while alternatives exist for over 90% of them [14,15]. The prospect for scaling up has enlivened both supporters and critics of the technology [16,17].…”