Breweries generate spent grains and yeast, resulting in an organics-rich wastewater that is difficult and expensive to manage - often needing to be trucked off site. With increasing pressure on water reuse, energy costs and emissions, this “side stream” is becoming a strategic challenge. Aquature’s BASE platform turns these effluents into clean water, green chemicals and recoverable energy - directly on site.
A Belgian brewery reached out to us because they wanted to improve their wastewater treatment from an already more stringent than normal treatment train that simply removes pollutants to an on-site solution that recovers energy and chemicals while increasing the amount of water they can reuse in their processes. With spatial constraints in company plot and highly variable flows of mixed brewery effluent water, conventional digestion was considered but found not feasible.
The Challenge
- High-COD wastewater from process residues, cleaning and losses
- Significant on-site treatment costs and logistics complexity of sludge and caustic
- Fluctuating batch loads that stress conventional treatment systems
- Growing pressure for water reuse and lower GHG emissions in anticipation of legislative pressure
Wastewater handling was seen as a necessary cost, with limited options beyond larger tanks, more aeration and more trucks.
At a Glance
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Aquature’s Proposition
Aquature installs a modular, containerised BASE unit to treat a high-strength effluent stream directly at the brewery site:
- Treat sugar- and organics-rich wastewater while removing organic and inorganic pollutants
- Convert pollutants into green hydrogen and caustic for CIP, while reducing the cost for water reuse of the existing installation
- Reduce or eliminate the need for offsite tankering of sludge and caustic handling
- Integrate with existing utilities and controls, without major plant redesign
The system is designed to handle variable, batch-driven loads, maintaining stable performance across production peaks and low-flow periods.
Results
- On-site treatment of high-COD effluents
Less reliance on external facilities and tankering logistics. - Reduced total wastewater handling costs
Combining savings from avoided trucking, reduced third-party fees, and energy recovery. - 390 MWh/year energy recovery potential
For a representative brewery of more than 100 m³/day of mixed wastewater produced, equivalent to 10% of utility demand. - Cleaner effluent and lower sludge production
Improved discharge profile and reduced handling of biological solids.
Business Impact
For breweries, Aquature turns a volatile, high-cost waste stream into a predictable, value-generating asset:
- Lower operating and logistics costs
- Reduced exposure to tightening discharge and water reuse regulations
- A visible, data-backed contribution to decarbonisation and circularity goals
With Aquature’s BASE platform, breweries can treat, valorise and reuse their wastewater on site - turning fermentation residues into a source of clean water and green energy.
