A PARTNERSHIP of Australian and global leaders in environmental engineering has been chosen to provide an extended wastewater treatment system for Pacific Beverages’ new Bluetongue brewery in NSW.
CST Wastewater Solutions is partnering with Global Water Engineering (GWE) to deliver and install a treatment system with best-practice water reuse standards, while at the same time providing renewable energy for the brewery, reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.
The $120m state-of-the-art brewery now being built on NSW’s Central Coast will eventually have an annual capacity of 150 million litres, making it the state’s second largest. Pacific Beverages, a joint venture by Coca Cola Amatil and global brewer SAB Miller, has ensured the brewery will boast strict environmental standards and world-class water and energy savings, says Michael Bambridge, Managing Director of CST Wastewater Solutions.
“With maximized water and energy conservation, Bluetongue’s wastewater treatment installation will set an industry benchmark for environmental concern by a brewery, demonstrating the company’s commitment towards operating a truly sustainable world class operation.”
The new brewery’s wastewater will pass several pre-treatment steps before entering a GWE ANUBIX-B anaerobic methane reactor in which the wastewater’s organic content (COD) is digested by bacteria in a closed reactor, degrading the compounds and converting them into valuable biogas and cleaned effluent.
This anaerobic treatment will significantly reduce the brewery’s carbon footprint by avoiding the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Biogas from the process will be collected and reused as renewable energy to power the brewery’s boiler.
Treated effluent will then continue to an aerobic post-treatment stage in which organic content is further reduced by GWE’s proprietary MEMBROX Membrane Biological Reactor (MBR) system.
In the water polishing step, the water from the MBR unit is sent through a Reverse Osmosis (RO) installation. Finally the effluent is led to a disinfection and storage unit, where the recycled water is kept for reuse applications.
CST and GWE both welcomed the awarding of the wastewater treatment contract by Bluetongue Brewery’s owner Pacific Beverages.
Jean Pierre Ombregt, CEO of Global Water Engineering, says, “It clearly shows large corporations recognise our mature and state-of-the-art renewable technologies as best practice for their sustainable production and future growth.”
Bambridge says, “We are pleased that dedicated companies, despite the global financial crisis, still invest in green technology and renewable energy. It once again shows that the way out of the current economic downturn could very well be investing in green technology.”
“Environmental initiatives such as green energy generation from wastewater treatment do not always get as much attention in Australasia as the more traditional renewables, such as solar and wind. But in fact there is a huge, often hidden, potential in using wastewater as a source of renewable energy. Global Water Engineering (GWE) encourages businesses with organic content in their wastewater and waste streams to investigate the anaerobic potential for their specific case. The technologies involved are highly applicable to Australia and New Zealand,” he says.
CEO Pacific Beverages, Peter McLoughlin says, “Environmental sustainability and employment opportunities are two very key aspects that Pacific Beverages has prioritised through the planning of our new Bluetongue Brewery in Warnervale. We are determined to meet and exceed the expectations of the local community, our customers and consumers in creating a truly world class Brewery that is environmentally friendly both in construction and post commissioning. Partnerships with companies such as CST Wastewater Solutions and Global Water Engineering will help us to succeed in meeting these objectives.”