Sustainable Microbrewery

Breweries use millions of gallons of water to make their products and sanitizing wastewater effluent is important to the brewing business. Despite significant improvement over the past two decades, water consumption and wastewater disposal remain environmental and economic hurdles. The goal of this project is to design a microbrewery that reduces biological oxygen demand, which is the amount of oxygen microorganisms need to break down soluble organic material, in the waste stream leaving the facility before it enters the municipal system. High biological oxygen demand means less oxygen in water for plants and animals and more work for city wastewater systems. The system design has a blower system that aerates a stagnant pool of waste product, and an automated flow system to maintain the correct oxygen level. Optimal energy use is achieved when the pressure in the header is just sufficient to overcome the static pressure of the waste. In order to be more sustainable, the team also determined the feasibility of implementing a rooftop solar energy system.