Construction of a wastewater treatment plan for a Russian brewery

In 2010 CUSS designed and built a wastewater treatment plant for a brewery in Sibiria in the south of Russia. Since the commissioning 5.000 m³ of wastewater are treated daily in the plant.

Conceptual Formulation:

During the design phase special attention towards insulation and pipe heating was needed. Due to the low temperatures in winter freezing of the water must be actively prevented. Since insulation and heating are cost intensive processes, it was decided to build an indoor wastewater treatment plant. It was also decided to replace the conventional sedimentation basins by lamella separators. This reduces the required space and therefore the heating and construction costs.

The first step of the wastewater treatment is the mechanical removal of abrasive particles. The wastewater is then neutralised and homogenised. During the homogenization nutrients are added into the equalisation tank. These nutrients are needed to create ideal conditions for the following biological treatment. Another important contributor to the operational costs is the disposal of excess sludge. By implementing an anaerobic treatment step prior to the aerobic treatment the excess sludge production can be minimised. The anaerobic treatment takes place in a CSTR (Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor). To sustain anaerobic digestion a wastewater temperature of 35-38°C is required. At the plant the temperature is controlled by steam injection. During the anaerobic treatment biogas is produced. Which is removed from the system and burned. To prevent a washing out of biomass lamella separators are implemented and only the liquid phase is fed into the following treatment steps while biomass is retained in the CSTR. Once the anaerobic treatment step is completed an aerobic treatment follows during which the treatment goals are reached. The final treatment step before the water is discharged is a second lamella separator preventing biomass washout and facilitating the removal of excess sludge.

Since the commissioning in 2010 the plant operates reliable and without bigger issues. This project is the perfect example of the durability of our installation, when operated in a proper way.