An eight-fold increase in production in recent years meant that St Austell Brewery was outgrowing its existing waste management facilities. Installing new wastewater treatment technology from The Envirogen Group will reduce an expensive sewer discharge bill and future-proof the site for growth. “St Austell Brewery has experienced huge success and growth in recent years,” explains Mark Little, European Strategic Projects Director at Envirogen Group. “Brewing operations have grown eight-fold and this strong growth looks set to continue. Such rapid expansion usually comes with additional costs, but by updating its wastewater treatment technology, St Austell will actually save money on their trade effluent bills, reducing them by up to 65%. “It became clear that the wastewater management systems were limiting the production capability at this site. Due to the brewing process, wastewater streams can have high organic loads and this high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) makes a big difference in the calculation of wastewater disposal charges. St Austell Brewery is currently having to tanker high strength wastewater streams from site, at an additional cost to the significant discharge fees required from their local water company, which levies some of the highest charges in the UK.” Mark Little continues: “St. Austell Brewery’s engineering team approached Envirogen to develop a solution that would address these rising costs and allow future expansion at the brewing site. We’ve worked with many breweries over the years and have found that their wastewater streams are ideal for anaerobic treatment, which significantly reduces the COD content of the wastewater by converting it into biomethane. The resulting biogas can be combusted in a CHP system to generate electricity and hot water. “Many breweries are choosing to invest in this technology as the cost savings are so great. The operating costs of the proposed Downflow Anaerobic Carrier System (DACS) technology is particularly low and it provides access to a new income channel via renewable energy incentives.” According to Clive Nichols, Project Engineer at St Austell Brewery, it made complete sense to invest in the Envirogen solution: “The savings on wastewater charges alone justify this investment and the system is forecast to deliver a very attractive return on investment. We’ll be reducing our COD content by approximately 90%, which translates into about a 65% saving on our wastewater bills. The biogas that we produce will be used to generate electricity for the site, which will reduce our electricity bills. We’ll also generate a return through the Government’s Feed-in-Tariff (FiT), which we will receive for 25 years at a fixed rate, even though we are using the electricity on site”. He continues: “Throughout the process, we were impressed by Envirogen’s engineering capability. They offered a solution that provided much greater returns than the other tenders we received. Their technology caught our eye with its simplicity and low running costs. And, of course, the team have been a pleasure to work with.” IC Filling Systems enjoyed great success showing off its canning combiblock at the Craft Brewers Conference in Washington DC earlier this year in April, generating a lot of interest and firm enquiries. The machine offers the option to fill and cap both bottles and cans with a single machine - all made possible with the appropriate optional attachments. The company supplies 2 valve, 4 valve & 6 valve versions with or without rinser, and with a twin head can seamer, in 222 (pictured), 442 and 662 configurations. Designed to package carbonated products such as beer, cider and carbonated soft drinks in aluminium cans, three phases of packaging are performed on a single steel base, on lockable wheels - rinsing, counter-pressure filling, capping and seaming. The new canning option is also available as a retrofit to all our existing counterpressure filling machines by adding a standalone seamer and adding the change parts for the valves and rinser pockets. 1. Specially designed counterpressure filling valves 2. Full automatic process, PLC controlled 3. Bottom feeding of the filling tank for foam control 4. Lowering bells to seal the cans against the filling valve. 5. CO2 flushing of can prior to filling to eliminate oxygen and extend product shelf life. 26 BREWING & BEVERAGE INDUSTRIES BUSINESS Brewery set for big discharge cost savings Canning and bottling from one machine News PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT www.icfillingsystems.com For more information visit: www.envirogengroup.com/food-beverage For more information visit: 26_Layout 1 16/05/2017 14:06 Page 1