Economics of water re-use in a brewery.

McKee, J.E. and Pincince, A.B.

Abstract
The water requirements and waste water characteristics (volume and quality) of a typical, but hypothetical, brewery are described. The average costs of such services under conventional methods of operation are calculated and compared with those which would arise from treating water for reuse in the brewery. It is concluded that while sewage charges can be reduced somewhat by a programme of water economy it is not certain that such a saving will exceed the cost of the programme. The use of a 2 stage biological treatment of all brewing and packaging waste waters followed by activated carbon treatment of the water which can then be reused does not appear to be economically feasible but the treatment of packaging waste waters by activated carbon and the reuse of such water in the packaging operation might be economically feasible.
Keywords: brewery costs effluent recycling water