Pinch Technology Approach to Freshwater and Wastewater Minimisation in Brewing Operations

Abstract

The rise in the cost of production of beer due to increasing demand for freshwater and high cost of treating wastewater, motivate research interests in resource management in beer production. This study determines and reduces the concentration of the contaminants in the wastewater samples collected from a brewery in Nigeria, to reduce freshwater demand and to save the cost of operation through wastewater reuse using pinch technology. The wastewater samples were analysed for the concentration of Chemical Oxygen Demand using standard procedures. The Total Dissolved Solids were measured using pH-EC-TDS metre. Water Cascade Analysis was used to evaluate the minimum freshwater demand and wastewater generated to design the maximum wastewater recovery network for minimum freshwater demand in the process. The results showed that for 41.54 t/hr of both the freshwater and wastewater used in the brewery operations, the Chemical Oxygen Demand concentration ranged between 0 – 74,775 ppm and the Total Dissolved Solids concentration ranged from 0 – 2,008 ppm. However, with the application of Water Cascade Analysis, the freshwater and wastewater flow rates reduced to 19.88 t/hr based on Chemical Oxygen Demand concentration and 21.54 t/hr based on Total Dissolved Solids concentration. The freshwater saving per annum based on the concentrations of Chemical Oxygen Demand and Total Dissolved Solids were ₦346,560,000:00 ($962,666.67) and ₦319,840,000:00 ($888,444.44), respectively. The study concluded that the application of Pinch Technology to brewery operation is viable because of its capacity to reduce freshwater demand and wastewater generation.