How One Brewery Generates Energy from Its Wastewater Treatment System (Case Study)

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How One Brewery Generates Energy from Its Wastewater Treatment System (Case Study)

Spoetzl Brewery‘s white brick Alamo-style plant in Shiner, Texas, produces many year-round and seasonal brews — including Spoetzl’s flagship beer, Shiner Bock.

The brewery needed a reliable treatment solution that would effectively handle brewery wastewater so that it complied with pretreatment effluent regulations. Spoetzl was also interested in generating green energy from biogas naturally produced from the anaerobic treatment process.

Solution: ADI-BVF Reactor

ADI Systems (an Evoqua brand) designed and built a 1.1 million gal (4,200 m3) low-rate anaerobic ADI-BVF reactor to treat Spoetzl Brewery’s wastewater. The BVF reactor was the right wastewater pretreatment option for Spoetzl Brewery due to the reactor’s ability to digest dissolved organics and organic suspended solids. 

The BVF upflow sludge bed reactor has a low loading rate and large inventory of biological solids, which allows the reactor to accept and reliably treat high concentrations of suspended solids. The treatment train consists of an equalization tank and the low-rate anaerobic BVF reactor, as well as biogas treatment, utilization and flare. This enables the brewery to convert its wastewater into biogas. Biogas generated in the BVF reactor is composed of more than 50 percent methane and is scrubbed to remove hydrogen sulfide. 

Find the results of this case study on Craft Brewing Business

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