ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Embracing sustainability in the beer brewing industry The installation of Grundfos pumps at the Sedibeng brewery’s wastewater plant highlights an international beer brewer’s commitment to water and energy efficiency.
T
HE INSTALLATION, which is in line with the brewer’s commitment to conserve water as a precious resource, included the installation of a water recovery plant, allowing the operation to further optimise water use within its facility. The expansion also saw the upgrading of the water treatment plant, where clean ‘raw’ water from the municipality is further purified for brewing purposes. After the beer is produced, beer residues and water used for pipe cleaning is treated to meet regulated environmental discharge limits. This can also be re-used for cleaning, reducing the need to draw on the municipal supply. According to Raymond Makgoga, Grundfos associate sales engineer, three Grundfos submersible wastewater pumps were provided to transfer water from the brewery
to the water recovery plant. After the sedimentation process, water is pumped to the reclamation plant for final treatment. In this circuit, around 6 000m3 of water is pumped daily with the pumps being driven by 15kW high-efficiency motors with IE3 rating.
ACCURATE DOSING “In the water treatment plant, a number of Grundfos Smart Digital S and Smart Digital XL pumps are installed, mounted on dosing skids,” says Makgoga. “These must accommodate a range of chemicals from sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite in the reverse osmosis circuit to citric acid and anti-scalant in the ultra-filtration circuit.” These systems give a high level of control, communicating vital data between the pump and the PLC, so that chemical dosing
is accurate and appropriate,” he says. “This eliminates over-dosing and ensures that chemicals are not wasted. The Grundfos pumps are able to measure the volumes of water flow and then dose in proportion.” The dosing pumps were supplied with the complete package including Grundfos’s CIU 500 interface. The CIU 500 is a standard interface for data transmission between an industrial ethernet network and a Grundfos pump or controller, making data exchange possible between Grundfos pumping systems and a PLC or SCADA system.
SAVING ENERGY Energy efficiency is also an important factor, considering the significant energy consumed by wastewater treatment plants. Large pumps in the system transfer about 1 750m3 of water per hour around the brewery pumping 24 hours a day. The use of IE3 energy efficient motors in the Grundfos pump installations has assisted in reducing energy consumption to about 1.3 kW/kg chemical oxygen demand treated, from a level of over 1.9 previously. •
Grundfos - www.grundfos.com/za
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2022 Quarter 1 | Food Manufacturing Africa
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