Anaerobic Treatment (UASB) of

Breweries wastewater
Dileep Soman
Process Engineer
Dear friends,
Could any of you let me know the important considerations in the
process design of UASBs for treating brewery wastewaters?

Bruno Peeters Interesting question Dileep but I am afraid that

the list would be too long for this discussion. I have designed, engineered, corealized and commissioned UASB based plants for breweries and many other
industries since 35 years.
I have visited several brewery UASB plants in India but none of these was
performing well for several reasons such as (1) no effective influent
equalization, (2) high TSS/COD ratio in UASB feed, (3) no effective process
controls, (4) poor influent distribution, (5) too low upflow velocities, (6)
inadequate 3-phase separators.

Zakhar Mazniak Dear Mr. Dileep. You asked very wide question. Could You
tell me what exact are You interesting?

Sakti A SIREGAR in addition to Bruno comment, organic loading rate,

bacteria type ( suspended or flocculant ), nutrient, sometime micro nutrient,
alkalinity etc.....

Bruno Peeters Indeed Sakti and the list continues.

Fortunately in brewery wastewater there are plenty of macro- and micronutrients originating from the brewing process.
However automatic pH control of the UASB feed is a must as to maintain
sufficient alkalinity. As to save fresh caustic (NaOH) we recommend to collect
and reuse the spent caustic from CIP operations.

Jorge Edgardo Lpez Hernndez Bruno is right. The most

important factors are related to pre-treatment unit operations that precede
anaerobic processes. Yeast and kieselgur wastes going to the sewer can
potentially be a PITA. So the TSS/COD ratio should always be verified. Alkaline
wastes coming from bottle washing operations usually are enough to
maintain pH in a convenient range, but pH conditioning needs a thoroughly
designed equalization tank

Bruno Peeters Correct Jorge Edgardo. However not all breweries use
recycled bottles (to be washed with alkaline water) at least not for their
complete beer production. In addition, batch brewing operations and CIP
result in considerable shots of spent caustic over the week. Hence it would
not be feasible to phase out pH in the mixed equalization (EQ) tank which has
typically 6 - 8 hours HRT. Instead of multiplying the size of the EQ tank by a
factor 10 - 20, it would be more economically to collect these CIP spent
caustic shots in a separate spent caustic tank (as suggested above) to be
either bleed continuously with the rest of the wastewater or - better - to be
used to control the pH and alkalinity in the UASB feed i.o. fresh caustic. In this
way, NaOH consumption can be reduced to zero even in breweries having no
bottle washers.

Don M. Schroder Why not just grow a microalgae with the brewery waste
streams, harvest the oils and hydrogen for energy and other necessary
compounds for specialty chemicals for direct usage in the brewery, and
ferment the leftover biomass or biomass compounds for specialty brews. You
can call it alcohol, and provide breweries with a waste treatment technology,
a continuous source of energy and feedstock for their operation, and provide
people with a new kind of beer/s. Gasification or Anaerobic or aerobic
digestion could be used for the solids waste.

David Mjumira We are currently on an Algae synthesis solution

using Brewery effluent first treated in a UASB digestate as feedstock for algae
synthesis. We might be able to help you, UASB is working fine but was
designed by a separate company. Project based in Cape Town.

Nguyen Anh Thang Dear Mr. Bruno Peeters. I designed and

operating a brewery WWTS with the well care of factors as you mentioned. To
assure the proper TSS/COD, we applied DAF, heat exchanger to control
temperature. Good pH control, good COD inlet loading control by flowrate and
COD values,...However, my suspended anaerobic SVI was getting lighter and
lighter since the date is was fed in. Sludge detached and overflow together
with water to the collection trench which makes me not able to operate at the
design flowrate. Could you tell me what component in waste water probably
the reason making the sludge settablity worse although COD removal rate is
still high (90%). Over 1 years operation, I have been feeding sludge again
and again 4 times. I am Thang from Vietnam, Sapporo beer WWTP. Thank
you.

3y
Bruno Peeters Dear Nguyen. First of all, 90% COD removal is excellent. If
sufficient equalisation and pre-acidification (about 4 - 6 h HRT) in a well
mixed EQ tank upstream of the UASB methane reactor is achieved and if the
methane reactor is equipped with adjustable effluent recycle as to control the
upflow velocity along with cascade pH control and if adequate laminar 3
phase separators are used, then the most likely cause of poorly flocculating
methanogenic sludge is a large unbalance between monovalent cations
(Na+, K+) and bivalent ones (Ca++, Mg++). Sodium ions (Na+) are quite
dispersive and used extensively as caustic (NaOH) together with softened
(Na+) water for CIP cleaning which ends up in the wastewater. In that case
the solution would be to restore the cation balance by using lime Ca(OH)2 or
wet mag Mg(OH)2 for neutralisation i.o. caustic NaOH between the EQ tank
and the methane reactor. Furthermore dosing some ferrous (Fe++) chloride
as a nutrient would support better flocculation and even granulation. If
preferred you can contact me to discuss further via email at
b.peeters@telenet.be. Wishing you success.

Nguyen Anh Thang Dear Mr. Bruno, We equipped adjustable effluent

recirculation system but I can not operate it because the limitation of LV. As I
told you, whenever I operate at the design flowrate, LV about 0.6-0.7 m/h,
sludge immediately overflows. Hence, I have to keep low LV (0.4 m/h), which
means treatment capacity is reduced. I added FeCL2, FeCL3, CaCL2,.. with
the hope of making sludge heavier. I dont expect to form Granular Sludge. It
is not that easy.
I am suspecting some anti bacteria substances appeared in CIP chemical,
such as Trimetan. Anyway, thank you for your sharing. I will try what you
instructed. Thank you very much.

Bruno Peeters Dear Nguyen. Thanks for the update. High sodium is a
common issue in modern breweries. Replacing the NaCl regenerated ion
exchange softeners in the water treatment by lime-soda or nano-filtration
(NF) softeners will also help. However in your case, I feel that there might
indeed be some toxic compound involved as you suspect. This reminds me of
a few cases in S.E. Asia where we had similar problems until we found out
that a popular lubricant called Dicolube CT used in the bottling department
inhibited the anaerobic bacteria. The problem was solved after replacing this
lubricant. I hope this experience may be useful to solve your problem.

Jorge Edgardo Lpez Hernndez I think Bruno is right. In the past we

have also had severe granulation problems related to the lubricants that are
used for lubricating the transportation chains in the bottling facilities. Once
the lubricants were changed, settling problems inside the UASB ceased
immediately.

Nguyen Anh Thang Thank Mr. Bruno and Mr. Jorge, I will ask factory
utility staffs about this Lubricant usage. I insist again that my case is Sludge
is degraded, SVI increase day by day by day until overflow. If you experienced
the same case, I am happy to hear your sharing.
Thank you very much.

Bruno Peeters Dear Nguyen. Yes this toxic lubricant caused similar
problems as you experienced: increasing SVI and washout of the light fluffy
sludge. However also the high sodium level contributes to elevated SVI and
the lack of granules in the lower part of the UASB.

Nguyen Anh Thang Dear Mr. Bruno. Do you know how much the
inhibitory dose is or the limited concentration of Dicolube CT must be ? I
naturally think that the usage of lubricant (for conveyor chain) is usually
small and so likely the washout amount is. Then if there is inhibition caused
by that lubricant, the inhibitory dose must be very small. Besides, regarding
NaOH factor, this is a very common and basic chemical to be used to adjust
pH for most of the standard WWTP. If it is a problem, its concentration in
water is at least 3500 ppm, a big amount. Is it right ? We dont use ion
exchange but NF.

Bruno Peeters Dear Nguyen. Yes the inhibitory concentration of this

lubricant is really very low for anaerobic bacteria. Hence we were also
surprised at that time because this lubricant seem not to affect the aerobic
bacteria in the downstream treatment.
It's excellent to use NF for water softening.
I agree that NaOH is used widely for CIP (cleaning-in-place) because it is very
effective for cleaning and for neutralization because it reacts quickly and is
very convenient to dose in liquid form as opposed to messy lime milk slurry.
If the sodium (Na+) concentration in your (waste)water is so high (3500 ppm)

then I would recommend to collect the spent caustic (about 2% NaOH =

20000 ppm) from CIP cleaning and regenerate it by ultrafiltration (UF) for
reuse in the next CIP cycles.

Nguyen Anh Thang Dear Mr, Bruno, If so, I focus on the lubricant. How
much concentration of lubricant Dicolube CT at the time you experienced ? If
asking change, I need to prove it, at lesat showing them a data or document
to prove that this type of lubricant is harmful to bacteria and how much is
allowable. For NaOH, we have a big enough Equalization tank, all types of
waste water is collected and equalized in this tank, so I dont have to collect
to reuse it. pH is partly neutralized in E.Q tank.

Bruno Peeters Dear Nguyen. As you can imagine the concentration of this
lubricant in the total wastewater volume is so low that it can't be analysed by
standard lab tests. Hence we started by listing all chemicals used in the
brewery and testing samples of the suspicious ones in dilute form by
comparative sludge activity tests. These tests revealed the toxic/inhibitive
impact.
Caustic CIP wastewater can easily be intercepted and stored in a separate
tank as we have done in a few cases and the NaOH regeneration is paid back
by the savings in fresh NaOH and water. I understand that this is not the
usual end-of-pipe solution but it is the most sustainable one especially if one
aims to reuse the treated wastewater and would need to add a RO unit as to
retain the sodium salinity.

Jayant Keskar Hi Nguyen, just wondering what was the source

of initial seed sludge? Was it from the municipal sewage solids treatment AD
system? If you can get the seed sludge from anaerobic lagoons ( either
brewery or distillery) you may get better consortia.

Nguyen Anh Thang Dear Mr. Jayant. Seed sludge was taken from another
brewery factory WWTP with the hope of shorten adapting period and assuring
more success. Seed sludge SVI is about 20, after few months operating, SVI
increase up to 200. Headache.

Jayant Keskar Possible culprit is then some unknown toxic substance

entering into your UASB system. Best luck to find out.

Peter Luimes Dear Nguyen,

Do you check you're feed lines? I read that your upflow is relative low. We
have an office in Vietnam with people who could help. Currently we helped a
lot of breweries (also in Asia) to recover UASB activity. Problems differ as
described above. (Lubricant pH control etc.). If you have a normal designed
UASB it should work like all of the installations I saw with breweries.

Nguyen Anh Thang Dear all, we have a small distribution flowrate

control basin, where we can adjust flowrate to each lines of distribution pipe
(V-notch type). We have had experience 57 years in WW treatment and many
of breweries WWTP projects in Japan. This is the first one in Vietnam. The
other breweries WWTP is designed the same way and running very well. We
compared and couldn't figure out what substance affect the anaerobic
sludge. The lubricant factory using is LUBODRIVE. Does anyone know this
lubricant and its effect to anaerobic sludge ?
Thanks all for sharing your valuable knowledge.

Bruno Peeters Dear Nguyen. Lubodrive AT and Lubodrive TK are conveyor

lubricants-disinfectants produced by Ecolab. The product specifications warn
for their impact on wastewater treatment especially anaerobic treatment. If
you would be interested I can send you these specifications (unfortunately I
found only Swedish version).

Nguyen Anh Thang Dear Mr. Bruno, I am very interested in knowing its
affect to anaerobic system. If possible, kindly teach me its specification. I
downloaded its MSDS and found nothing related to impact to bacteria. Please
kindly give me via: email: at.nguyen@kobelco-eco.com. Thank you very
much.

Bruno Peeters Dear Mr. Nguyen. MSDS mainly focus on safety for the user
(brewery operators). The product specifications provide a warning about the
wastewater treatment (ref. above) but without details. OK, I will forward these
to you with solutions that we applied in previous cases where the brewery
preferred not to change their inhibitive lubricants.

Mangal Dev Bariwal One important aspect for smooth

anaerobic digester fool proof system for following accurate SOP Bruno once I
will suggest visit few UB brewery In India all UASB operating at 85 %.

Bruno Peeters Dear Mangal Dev, I agree with you about good standard
operating procedures (SOP) but the brewery UASB ETP's that I visited in India
- including a United Brewery (UB) one - were not performing well mainly for
the reasons summarized in my first post (at the top of this discussion thread).
I understand that meanwhile significant improvements have been made at
UB and I would be keen to learn about these and perhaps there might be an
opportunity to revisit the UB one(s).

Fernando Ferreira Hi Nguyen,

In Portugal, at least two of the biggest breweries WWTP work with UASB's.
Like Bruno said line lubricants-disinfectants are the most common
inhibitor/toxic to AD. The major problem isn't the normal dosage of lubricant,
but the spills (example: of the retention basins), principally when there is
filling or maintenance without production. Try to work with good equalization
and maybe with ferric chloride in primary settlement. On the other hand,
typically inhibition and toxicity are inversely proportional to the amount of
solids in the UASB and the internal recirculation ratio.
GOOD WORK!

Satish Bollu Mr.Dileep, by this time you would have

commissioned UASB digester, I hope you are talking about Spent wash, high
pollution counts. BOD - 50000mg/L, COD-100000mg/L, yields good gas
production. If you would have any process issues post new in the forum.
Mangal Dev Bariwal we provides enzymes fir improving performance of
USAB

Bruno Peeters Unfortunately many/most UASB based AD plants in India

are poorly designed, built and operated. Throwing in enzymes or other agents
- especially on an ongoing basis - will be most lucrative for the additives
suppliers with increased operating cost for the owners and users of these AD

plants.
However investing in a smart retrofit upgrade would provide far better
performance resulting in more methane recovery and in cleaner water. Such
smart and green investment will be paid back quickly by the savings in fossil
fuel, in electrical power consumption and in waste sludge production in the
downstream aerobic biological treatment.

Mangal Dev Bariwal Bruno Its not right now you visited India In 2010
that it was but now the All USAB are working with 80 % -85 % Conversion
efficiency after this you have to have through knowledge of basic of
Biological treatment process and good mechanised pH control system for ph
balancing in equalisation tank and appropriate alkalinity in buffer tank before
digester will yield good qty of methane but to improve further you need
enzymes to accelerate methenisation process in digester and the result was
so good that after digester BOD was less than 50 ppm and COD 300 pppm 98
% conversation efficiency achieved I have seen one of aerobic tank lacking
food for microorganism so advise to maintain correct F/M ratio feed little qty
Raw effluent

Bruno Peeters I appreciate your improvements Mangal but I'm sorry to

disagree with you. Aside from a few exceptions that you refer to, little has
changed on efficient AD in India since 2010. Far too many AD plants still
apply air mixing (aeration!) in the equalisation tank upstream on UASB's,
have poorly designed and constructed UASB's (incl. high corrosion, leaks, ...)
and basically run on manual without adequate modulating process controls.
For your reference: some 10 years ago we achieved 98% COD removal and
99% BOD removal in our HRAD plants in Asia without any additions other
than a bit of lye for automatic cascade pH control.
At present (July 2015) we are studying several AD cases in the agro-food
industry in India but it is hard to change misconceptions and old habits as
referred above.

Mangal Dev Bariwal may be but I am referring about brewery AD not

other agro products

Bruno Peeters Dear Mangal, I forgot to add that our first 98% COD
removal HRAD case 10 years ago was for a brewery in Asia. This proves that
the combination of excellent design, realization and operation (by qualified,
well trained and motivated staff) yields the best performance with the
highest return on investment year-on-year over at least 30 years as
demonstrated by our HRAD plants since 35 years (including 2 key ones in
India).
Christian Tasser I agree with Bruno. We operate a brewery UASB in
California. And other UASBs for juices or for yogurt WWTP.

Mangal Dev Bariwal someone interested to improve biological

performance of brewery and food industries please contact us we guarantee
for improved performance of effluent treatment plant and also helps to make
Zero liquid discharge

Sanjay Kumar All types of anaerobic treatment technology like

UASB AHR & CSTR will work. Only hv to maintain inlet parameters as per
anaerobic conditions.

Sanjay Kumar All types of anaerobic treatment technology like UASB AHR
& CSTR will work. Only hv to maintain inlet parameters as per anaerobic
conditions.

Jorge Edgardo Lpez Hernndez In my experience there is no need to

add anything to anaerobic reactors. A well designed and operated reactor will
work perfectly with a nutrient balance. Enzymes and other similar products or
"bio-enhancers" only add an unnecessary cost to the operation and the
benefits (if any) are marginal.

Niels stergaard This is also my experience - brewery

wastewater may be low in nutrients and micronutrients, why it may be a
main point to supply such substances. The main problem may be acidification
and propionic acids, as I see it. Still the micronutrients may enhance the
methanogenic bacteria growth rate to overcome such problems. Before, a
controlled high rate acidification tank with recirculation has showed effective
- easy to make and maybe combine with temperature control / heat
exchanger.