New construction of the anaerobic stage for a brewery wastewater treatment plant in Croatia

In 2008, following a tender process, CUSS was selected to build the wastewater treatment plant for an existing beer production and bottling plant in Croatia.

THE TASK

The aim of the construction of a wastewater treatment plant for the purification of highly contaminated production wastewater was to reduce the organic load of the water from 3500 mg/l in the inlet by > 80% in order to fulfil the legal requirements and continue to receive permission to discharge the wastewater into the sewer system. This was also intended to reduce the fees.

The challenge lay in the very large volume of wastewater produced and the above-average load of solids and organic matter.

CUSS developed a customised process concept based on these requirements and other wastewater parameters. Furthermore, a customised plant dimensioning and calculation of all process steps was carried out to ensure reliable plant operation for all possible scenarios of wastewater quantity and quality.

In a first mechanical treatment stage, solids that are transported with the wastewater to the treatment plant are separated from this flow and dewatered.

The screened wastewater is then pre-acidified under anoxic conditions. The selected technology minimises the consumption of chemicals in this process step.

Pre-treatment is particularly important in anaerobic purification processes as the biomass places high demands on environmental conditions such as temperature, pH value, wastewater composition and low solids content.