By: Alyssa L. Ochs
Efficiently managing wastewater helps breweries and distilleries reduce operational costs and promote environmental sustainability. The management process may involve reducing water usage by fixing leaks, using high-efficiency equipment and optimizing cleaning processes. It may also involve monitoring the quality of wastewater to identify issues early on and understanding what’s in the wastewater to adjust treatment methods accordingly.
Breweries and distilleries can handle wastewater using various treatment options. To get a better sense of the options available, we connected with companies working in this industry and producers who have found wastewater treatment systems that work well for them.
Where Wastewater Comes From
Craft beverage producers use a lot of water in their processes, and much of that water becomes wastewater. Wastewater production comes from various cleaning tasks, including washing bottles, kegs, utensils and building surfaces.
Wastewater comes from wort production because making wort requires water as an ingredient to standardize the alcohol content. Washing and sterilizing vessels, refrigeration and container applications also produce wastewater in a beverage production facility.
Wastewater Treatment Options
One treatment option for wastewater is ultrafiltration, which uses a membrane filtration process to remove microorganisms and particles from water. Some facilities use filtration to pretreat water before reverse osmosis.
Reverse osmosis is a purification process that removes tiny molecules in water and is typically more effective than other methods. However, it can potentially cause bacteria contamination, and the production rate can be slow.
Ultrafiltration is a treatment option to remove bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms from water. However, it is not powerful enough to remove dissolved solids, metals or chemicals.
It is also possible to use a bioreactor in the wastewater treatment process that supports a biologically active environment where bacteria and protozoa can grow. This type of chamber can be aerobic to remove organic matter and oxidize ammonia to nitrate or anaerobic, which just removes organic matter. An anoxic bioreactor removes nitrogen from nitrates to nitrogen gas.
What’s Working, What’s Available
Tyler Glaze is the COO of Shorts Brewing in Elk Rapids, Michigan and told Beverage Master Magazine that his brewery uses an aerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR) to treat wastewater. Shorts Brewing is a mom-and-pop operation, yet one of the largest craft breweries in the state. It prioritizes natural resource protection, outdoor recreation, equity and other community development initiatives.
Glaze said that his brewery does not use wastewater in the brewing process because there isn’t a cost-benefit to doing so at the moment.
Yet he said that historically, Shorts’ most significant wastewater challenge was the volume of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), phosphorus and total suspended solids (TSS). This is because Shorts’ aerobic MBR system and side-streaming efforts in the brewhouse and the cellar control BOD, phosphorous and TSS exceptionally well.
“Our BOD to drain is reduced from around 700 to 1,000 pounds of BOD per day to less than one pound of BOD per day to the municipality,” he said. “We have similar reductions in the volume of TSS and phosphorous as well.”
However, he said the brewery’s biggest challenge currently is the volume of solids separated from the wastewater treatment plant. “Our aerobic treatment system creates solids as a byproduct of treatment,” Glaze said. “Reducing the volume of the solids through separation and drying would be our next step to reduce the costs of hauling the solids.”
We also connected with Copper Bottom Craft Distillery in Holly Hill, Florida, to discuss wastewater. Copper Bottom is a small-batch distillery that produces handcrafted, award-winning spirits from raw sugar cane without artificial colors, flavors or sugars added. It offers tours, a tasting room and a membership-based Rum Club.
Jenni Craig, Copper Bottom’s CMO, told Beverage Master, “We don’t use anything to treat wastewater. We treat our product and production water through a reverse osmosis unit. We use this RO water to proof our spirits.” Craig also shared, “We use 25 percent of our stillage from the previous run into the next cook.” To date, Copper Bottom has not encountered any significant challenges with its wastewater.
One company working in this space is Cambrian Innovation, based in Watertown, Massachusetts. Cambrian’s mission is to make distributed water reuse simple, sustainable and cost-effective. It helps businesses across various sectors (including beer, spirits and wine) transform their wastewater into a valuable resource while generating clean energy and clean water with industry-leading solutions. This leader in sustainable resource management specializes in transforming environmental liabilities into assets while helping businesses save money through efficient processes and environmentally responsible practices.
Matt Silver, CEO of Cambrian, told Beverage Master that his very first customers were in the craft beer industry. He is currently working on projects with numerous craft beverage customers today. Cambrian’s Water-Energy Purchase Agreement (WEPA) allows beverage manufacturers to recycle high-strength wastewater as a service.
“Cambrian’s core focus is helping customers recover clean water, clean energy and even carbon dioxide from their waste streams,” Silver said. “Our goal is to eliminate the challenge of managing these waste streams and the cost associated with that, as well as the cost of using those commodities and utilities. It’s really a win-win.”
Silver explained, “We have a range of proprietary technologies and solutions that we install onsite that take polluted water and generate drinking-quality water and biogas that can be used for heat and electricity. What that does is cut the customers’ waste generation, reduces their carbon footprint and decreases their overall water use.”
Silver said craft beverage producers interested in improving their wastewater management should reach out to Cambrian to have a phone conversation or visit their website. From that point, Cambrian will ask for details about the customer’s facility, evaluate the opportunity, provide an estimate and present a term sheet to sign before developing a final design. Cambrian’s services are best geared toward medium- to large-size breweries that produce more than 30,000 barrels per year.
Another company you should familiarize yourself with when you’re developing a wastewater solution is American Hose & Supply. This company is a leading hydraulic and industrial hose supplier that ships to all U.S. states and internationally.
Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, American Hose & Supply serves many different industries, including breweries. Its product line includes various sizes and types of hydraulic hoses and rugged hoses for industrial applications. It can custom-build hoses at any length for your needs and according to your desired pressure rating and end-fitting specifications. You can also contact American Hose & Supply for pressure washers, gauges, tubing, valves, clamps, barbs, fittings and couplers to handle wastewater.
Choosing Your Wastewater Solution
Silver from Cambrian Innovation emphasized the need for beverage makers to continuously consider their wastewater management goals throughout the process of researching options.
“Are they looking for compliance, or are they looking to reduce the volume of water they use?” Silver asked. “That will dictate the quality of the water they need. Also, think about whether they want to own and operate their own system or pay for performance on a per-gallon basis while they focus on their business.”
Glaze from Shorts Brewing urges craft beverage producers to remember that you cannot control what you don’t measure. If you don’t work hard to get an accurate understanding of your waste stream, you won’t be able to design an appropriate system to handle it. He recommends doing your research or hiring a team to help you determine the best approach to handling your waste stream.
“There is no one-size-fits-all solution to brewery waste management because every municipality has different constraints,” Glaze said. “You might be surprised what you are able to send to a municipal waste system and what you are not.”
He also explained that there is a quick and easy way to determine if your local municipal wastewater treatment system is functioning well or needs improvement.
“Typically, if a system is working well, you won’t ever hear from your wastewater treatment facility, especially as you are starting up a brewery,” Glaze said. “If the municipal wastewater treatment system isn’t able to effectively handle waste, they will start surveying industrial users like breweries and food producers.”
He recommends using the EPA’s Water Pollutant Loading Tool to locate your local system and look up the detailed facility report for that local treatment system.
“If you notice a trend that shows they are seeing increased loading or violations in the quarters where you are producing the most beer, then you should definitely start the process of planning improvements to your waste stream,” said Glaze. “It’s best to be proactive and avoid this approach, but most people won’t act until they are required to. Use this information to explain to stakeholders at your business that the issue might require more urgency.”
Finally, Glaze advises producers to work with their municipalities to develop solutions. “The people who work at the waste plants are incredibly knowledgeable and typically have experience with all kinds of different wastewater systems,” said Glaze. “They have big brains and most of the time would love to chat about their job with you over a beer. You can learn a ton from them, and they can help guide you toward solutions to reduce the most impactful constituents in your waste stream.”
