NEW WAYS TO REDUCE WATER FOOTPRINT IN
FRESH WATER TREATMENT
3rd Iberoamerican VLB Symposium
Petropolis Brazil
18-21 Jun 2012
Michael Eumann
EUWA Water Treatment Plants
Agenda
•
Development of Water Treatment in Breweries
•
Sustainability
•
Conventional Lime Precipitation
•
Ultrafiltration
•
Liquick
•
Revese Osmosis
•
Combining Reverse Osmosis and Liquick
•
Test results
Brew Water Treatment
 Changes in ionic composition of brew water, primarily removal of
bicarbonates, was the aim already in the early days of industrial
brewing.
 Today mainly three different major methods are used in
breweries for changing the ionic composition of the brew water:
From the oldest to the newest:
 Lime precipitation (LP),
 Ion exchange (IX) and
 Reverse osmosis (RO).
Market Share
Brew Water Treatment in the Historical Context
1900
Lime precipitation
1925
Ion
exchange
1975
1950
Year
Reverse
osmosis
?
2000
2025
Sustainability
Lime precipitation
Ion exchange
Reverse osmosis
WATER
FOOT PRINT
ENERGY
CHEMICALS
low
low
low - medium (Ca(OH)2)
medium
low
high (typically HCl)
high
high
low (antiscalant, acid)
Lime: Ca(OH)2
Lime (Ca(OH)2)
 is a natural product,
 is non-toxic.
Pamukkale, Turkey
(picture by Mila Zinkova; taken from www.de.wikipedia.org)
 CaCO3 from lime
precipitation can be easily
used in other industries or
Limestone quarray near Orosei, Sardinia
(picture by Michael J. Zirbes; taken from www.de.wikipedia.org)
even be recycled.
Conventional Lime Precipitation
Addition of lime (Ca(OH)2):
•
Main reaction:
Ca2+ + 2 HCO3- + Ca2+ + 2 OH-  2 CaCO3 + 2 H2O
•
Mg(HCO3)2 can only be removed as Mg(OH)2, which
requires higher pH-values  two-stage lime
precipitation (system Morgenstern).
ONE-STAGE LIME PRECIPITATION
Lime water
Sand filter
Lime milk
Raw water
Reactor 1
Brew water
Since 1965
TWO-STAGE LIME PRECIPITATION
Mg(HCO3)2+ 2Ca(OH)2 => 2CaCO3 + Mg(OH)2 + 2H2O
Since 1965
Conventional Lime Precipitation
• Large footprint due to:
• Lime saturators
• Reactor(s).
Ultrafiltration

Ensures filtrate is free of
particles, turbidity even under
fluctuating flow conditions.

Takes out bacteria and viruses.

Ideal for surface water
(e.g. river, lake) or as
pretreatment for RO.
ELIWA
Membrane filtration
system
Lime Water
Storage
Water source
Lime milk
Saturated
Lime Water
ELIWA

Replaces lime saturators.

Small footprint.

Provides clear and saturated lime
water of constant quality.
LIQUICK
LIQUICK

Replaces reactor(s).

Small footprint.

Provides clear, decarbonized brew
water of constant quality.
REVERSE OSMOSIS

Effective membrane
deminerlisation by using high
pressure

Low chemical consumption

Permeate (RO recovery) typically
70-90%
Test Results RO
Raw Water
90% Recovery
Turbidity NTU
0.27
0.18
pH
7.88
7.47
Conductivity
µs/cm
337
25
Total Hardness
ppm CaCO3
157
4
m-alkalinity
ppm CaCO3
130
10
Sodium ppm
10
5
Chloride ppm
8
1
Combining RO and LIQUICK
Brew water
Raw water
RO
LIQUICK
Test Results
The tests to treat the concentrate of the RO were
performed at recovery rates of 92, 94 and 98%.
Key water parameters were analyzed.
Test Results RO-LQ Permeate
RECOVERY
RATE
92%
94%
98%
Turbidity NTU
0.09
0.15
0.18
pH
5.62
5.47
5.41
Conductivity
µs/cm
29
31
38
Total Hardness
ppm CaCO3
4
5
7
m-alkalinity
ppm CaCO3
8
9
8
Sodium ppm
7
7
6
Chloride ppm
2
2
2
Test Results
98%!!!!
Summary and Outlook
It has been clearly demonstrated that the
combination of RO and LIQUICK is a very
promising combination to significantly reduce
the water footprint of RO, the most widely used
water treatment system in breweries today, way
beyond levels previously seemed possible.
Further research and tests with different water
qualities will be done in the near future.
There is lots of potential!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
www.euwa.com