Brewery wastewater treatment.

Wastewater treatment is an end-of-pipe means of controlling water pollution. The beer

Fig. 1: Pollutant sources from the Brewery process.

Table 1: Typical brewery wastewater characteristics.

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 NaOH Boiler
Raw wastewater tank
Combustion chamber
Screens and
grit channels pH Boiler make-up
IC
water

Biogas
Sedimentation tank TIC TIC
Balance line

Equalisation tank PC
Chemical mix

Condensate
tank

Pump
Sludge to Hydrolysis reactor Aerobic digestion DO Air
M
press filter Blower
Pump Anaerobic digester

Mixed liqour
pH
IC

Key: HCl
pHIC - pH indicator controller. tank
PC - Pressure control.
TIC - Temperature indicator controller.
HCl - Hydrogen chloride.
DOM - Dissolved oxygen meter. Waste activated
NaOH - Sodium hydroxide. sludge to
anaerobic digestor

Treated effluent
Sludge to sludge
thickener

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The treatment process.
As shown in the process flow diagram, brewery wastewater treatment consist of the following
processes which are integrated to produce wastewater of a specific quality at the end of the
process;

Physical treatment
Physical treatment is for removing coarse solids and other large materials, rather than
dissolved pollutants. It may be a passive process, such as sedimentation to allow suspended
pollutants to settle out or float to the top naturally. The sequence of physical treatment of
wastewater is as given below.

1. Screening.
This is done to remove heavy and large particulate material. Wastewater is first screened to
remove glass, labels, and bottle caps, floating plastic items and spent grains.

2. Grit removal
After the wastewater has been screened, it flows into a grit chamber where sand, grit, and
small stones settle to the bottom.

3. Equalisation.
Flow equalization is a technique used to consolidate wastewater effluent in holding tanks for
“equalizing” before introducing wastewater into downstream brewery treatment processes or
for that matter directly into the municipal sewage system. The wastewater is transferred to the
sedimentation tank by means of a centrifugal pump which ensures a constant flow rate. In the
case of over-pressure, the pump is fitted with a balance line with automatic control which
opens the balance line valve to send excess back to the equalisation tank. The control system
has a pressure controller which receive a signal from a pressure sensor on the main line to the
sedimentation tank.

4. Sedimentation.
With the screening completed and the grit removed, wastewater still contains dissolved
organic and inorganic constituents along with suspended solids. The suspended solids consist
of minute particles of matter which can be removed from the wastewater with further
treatment such as sedimentation chemical flocculation. Aluminium sulphate (Alum) is added
to effect flocculation of small particles which are settleable.

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Chemical treatment
1. pH control
This is done to prepare the effluent for the alkaline hydrolysis. The typical pH for brewery
effluent is around 6.5 as shown in Table 1. However, alkaline hydrolysis requires aggressive
alkaline conditions with pH values greater than 10. This is achieved by adding sodium
hydroxide to the wastewater. The system of sodium hydroxide dosing is controlled by an
automatic system which measures the pH of the influent to the pH adjustment sump and
relays a signal to a controller which gives a corresponding output to the control valves which
dose NaOH into the system. The sensors suitable for this application are digital sensors which
convert the measured hydrogen concentration into an electronic signal thereby producing a
faster response to pH variations in the measured stream.

2. Alkaline hydrolysis.
This is for breaking down complex organic material into simple biodegradable material. The
concentrated NaOH added in the preceding process acts as a catalyst in the hydrolysis of
proteins to amino acids, and cellulose to simple saccharides. The reactor is temperature
controlled to ensure the efficient operation of the reactor. The reactor is fitted thermocouples
which sense the temperature of the reactor contents and relays a signal to a proportional
controller which maintains the reactor temperature between 90 and 97°C by adjusting the
steam flow rate into the heating jackets. The condensate from the steam jacket is collected
and returned to the boiler for production of more steam. The products from the reactor pass
though pH adjustment to reduce the pH to range between 6.5 and 8 which is suitable for
biodigestion. This is achieved by adding hydrochloric acid to lower the pH using an
automated dosing system. HCl is a suitable reagent because it results in the formation of
Sodium Chloride when it lowers down the pH of the product stream from the hydrolysis.
NaCl is not poisonous to microorganisms.

Biological treatment.
After the brewery wastewater has undergone physical and chemical treatments, the
wastewater then undergoes an additional biological treatment. The biological treatment
process is for reducing the BOD of the effluent to the required level recommended by EMA
and municipal authorities.

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 1. Anaerobic digestion.
This is the biological treatment of wastewater without the use of air or elemental oxygen
which is characterised by the conversion of organic compounds by anaerobic microorganisms
into biogas. This biogas is used as the fuel to the boiler to produce steam which is used for
heating purposes for the bioreactor and the hydrolysis reactor. The boiler is pressure
controlled to prevent boiler over-pressure by means of pressure relief which automatically
open when the pressure exceeds 10% of the maximum safe working pressure.

The biodigester is an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, whereby the
wastewater flows in an upward mode through a dense bed of anaerobic sludge. Wastewater is
distributed into the tank at appropriately spaced inlets. The wastewater passes upwards
through an anaerobic sludge bed where the microorganisms in the sludge come into
contact with wastewater-substrates. The sludge bed is composed of microorganisms that
naturally form granules (pellets) of 0.5 to 2 mm diameter that have a high sedimentation
velocity and thus resist wash-out from the system even at high hydraulic loads. The
resulting anaerobic degradation process typically is responsible for the production of
gas (e.g. biogas containing CH4 and CO2). The upward motion of released gas bubbles
causes hydraulic turbulence that provides reactor mixing without any mechanical parts. At
the top of the reactor, the water phase is separated from sludge solids and gas in a
three-phase separator (also known the gas-liquid-solids separator). The three-phase-
separator is commonly a gas cap with a settler situated above it. Below the opening of the gas
cap, baffles are used to deflect gas to the gas-cap opening.

The reactor is temperature controlled by means of a steam coil which goes around the tank.
The temperature control mechanism is similar to that of the hydrolysis reactor whereby the
temperature is measured by a thermocouple which relays the signal to a transduced for
converting the signal to a voltage signal which is used to effect a control response after
passing through a controller.

2. Aerobic digestion.
In this process, the remainder of the biodegradable material is removed from the wastewater
by passing it through an aerated tank. The process occurring is the oxidation of organic
material to carbon dioxide ammonia and water as the microorganisms respire, grow and
reproduce.

BOD+O 2 → CO 2+ NH 3 + H 2 O+ Biomass

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As this happens, the microorganisms also convert non-settleable solids to settleable solids
which are easily removed by sedimentation/clarification.

The reactor used for this particular purpose is an activated sludge bed reactor (ASBR). In the
activated sludge process, the wastewater flows into an aerated and agitated tank that is
primed with activated sludge. This complex mixture containing bacteria, fungi, protozoans,
and other microorganisms is referred to collectively as the biomass. In this process, the
suspension of aerobic microorganisms in the aeration tank, are mixed vigorously by aeration
devices which also supply oxygen to the biological suspension.

The process control mechanism at this stage is the control of dissolved oxygen (DO)
concentration in the reactor at a minimum of 1mg/L. This is done by adjusting the flow of
aeration air into the reactor by either increasing or decreasing the rate depending on the value
of the DO in the reactor. Controlling the aeration rate has a twofold effect; 1) when it is high
it reduces the temperature of the wastewater, and 2) increases the concentration of DO since
the solubility of oxygen is inversely proportional to temperature. The aeration devices
commonly used include submerged diffusers that release compressed air and mechanical
surface aerators that introduce air by agitating the liquid surface.

3. Clarification.
At the end of the brewery wastewater treatment process is the clarification of the final
product before it is discharged into the sewerage system. Clarification is for producing clear
effluent by removing all the suspended solids and the sludge. The settled sludge is collected
at the bottom while the clear effluent overflows over a weir into a channel which leads to a
chemical dosing unit before it is discharged into the sewers. Chlorine, in the form of Sodium
Hypochlorite (~12% Bleach), is dosed at a controlled level to kill any remaining bacteria in
the clear effluent. Instrumentation monitors the chlorine residual attained, with an eye toward
providing the minimal dosage for complete disinfection. By monitoring a slight excess of
dosage, (residual), we ensure that all reactive material in the effluent has been exposed to the
disinfecting agent.

A portion of the biological sludge is recycled to the aeration basin to maintain a high mixed-
liquor suspended solids (MLSS) level. The remainder is removed from the process and sent
to sludge processing to maintain a relatively constant concentration of microorganisms in the
system.

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Bibliography
1. Abass A. Olajire, (2012), The brewing industry and environmental challenges:
Journal of Cleaner Production. www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro
2. Frank Woodard, (2001), Industrial Waste Treatment Handbook, Butterworth–
Heinemann.
3. Unknown, Examples of Food Processing Wastewater Treatment.

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