Technical Session 07: Sustainability Session
Manaf H Farhan, EMG International, Inc., Media, PA, USA
Co-author(s): James Kuhr, The F.X. Matt Brewing Company, Utica, NY, USA; Yassar Farhan, EMG International, Inc., Media, PA, USA
ABSTRACT: A brewery can incur significant costs associated
with wastewater treatment and disposal. Increasing financial and
regulatory pressures can drive brewery management to consider investment
in a wastewater treatment system that will reduce annual operating
costs. Anaerobic fluidized bed digester (AFBD) technology with
electricity generation and waste heat recovery offers breweries an
innovative high rate wastewater treatment system that can provide cost
and operations and maintenance (O&M) savings. However, onsite
wastewater treatment systems require a significant upfront capital
investment and proper long-term operation and maintenance. In today’s
volatile and highly competitive business environment, brewery management
cannot afford to commit to large capital expenditures for such systems
without a detailed technical and economic feasibility evaluation. This
paper discusses technical and economic evaluation criteria required for
successful implementation of a high-rate anaerobic digester system for
breweries. Technical evaluation criteria discussed in this paper include
selection of digester technology; evaluation of regulatory and
compliance requirements; analysis and determination of brewery
wastewater generation rates (average and design flow rate measurement
and calculation, hourly, daily, and seasonal variability, and growth
projections); required wastewater analyses (chemical oxygen demand,
5-day biochemical oxygen demand, total and volatile solids, nitrogen and
phosphorous levels, and pH and temperature trends and variability);
high-rate digester system layout and space requirements; ability to
handle overloading and shock loading conditions; recovery from
operational upsets; and system automation and reliability. Cost benefit
analysis elements discussed include evaluation of wastewater disposal
costs; brewery energy usage; digester system capital costs; long-term
operation and maintenance costs (labor, materials, and consumables);
expected sewer savings; energy savings/income; renewable energy credits
(RECs); and available grant funding. This paper uses a detailed
technical and economic feasibility evaluation completed for a high-rate
anaerobic digester system at the F.X. Matt Brewing Company in Utica, NY,
as a case study. Based on the results of this evaluation, the Matt
Brewing Company is currently installing an AFBD system for wastewater
treatment, electricity generation, and waste heat recovery.
Manaf
H. Farhan is the president and CEO of EMG International based in Media,
PA. He holds a B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of
Notre Dame, a master’s degree in environmental engineering from Columbia
University, and master’s and Ph.D. degrees in systems engineering from
the University of Pennsylvania. He is a licensed professional engineer.
His doctoral research focused on design and optimization of various
anaerobic digester processes to maximize process efficiency and biogas
production. He has authored several peer-reviewed articles on anaerobic
digestion and has served as an adjunct professor in the Department of
Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He
has over 20 years of experience providing a wide range of environmental
engineering design and consulting services to private industry and
governmental clients. His professional experience includes design and
construction of digester systems for wastewater treatment and biogas and
electricity generation for food and beverage facilities and for dairy
farms; technical evaluation, process modifications, and operational
support for various full-scale anaerobic digester installations;
development and testing of bench- and pilot-scale wastewater treatment
systems; pollution prevention and wastewater minimization audits; and
biogas collection, clean up, and utilization.
VIEW PRESENTATION 24
