Brewery Experiences 95% RO Wastewater Reduction with MI Systems Solution
Situation
A Top-50 U.S. craft brewery used Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration to generate production water for their operation. The RO system was sized for 65% recovery, meaning the volume of waste produced is equal to approximately 54% of the volume of purified water generated for production. Decreasing wastewater volume would simultaneously reduce water supply and sewer expenses, and increase operating margins.
Target
Decrease wastewater volume to decrease costs and increase operating margins while also enhancing overall sustainability.
Activity
The brewery installed a MI Systems WaterTitan SolutionTM process train, powered by our END® Technology, to reclaim fresh, potable water from their RO waste stream. The selection was based on a low cost of operation, high recovery rate, and simple integration into the existing process.
MI Systems provided, installed, and commissioned a turnkey solution incorporating a three-stage, NSF-certified END® system. The process was designed to recover 95% of the brewery’s wastewater volume with minimal noise, energy consumption, and maintenance.
Results
The system went operational in January 2019, and has exceeded the brewer’s expectations. Freshwater, recovered from RO brine, is tuned to exceed city water quality standards and is returned upstream of the client’s existing treatment process. The solution features fully automated PLC operation, remote monitoring and data logging, and integrated clean-in-place (CIP). By tuning the treated output to meet or exceed the quality of the client’s raw water source, there was no impact on product quality. The MI Systems solution increased water utilization by more than 30 percent, improving the facility’s operating margins. Substantial reductions to sewer expenses, coupled with the low system cost of operation, provided an estimated 14-month project return on investment.
The brewer’s waste was also reduced by a volume equivalent to 5 Olympic-sized swimming pools per year.