PERFORMANCE STUDIES OF BREWERY WASTE TREATMENT
AT PABST, GEORGIA
Richard J. Zielinski, Manager of Quality Assurance
Pabst Brewing Company
Pabst, Georgia 31093
Thomas R. McWhorter, Vice President
Hussey, Gay, Bell and McWhorter, Inc.
Savannah, Georgia 31405
INTRODUCTION
In the fad of 1970, Pabst Brewing Company began brewing at their newly constructed
Georgia facdities.   The brewery had an annual production capacity of 1.5 million barrels
and included process wastewater treatment facilities providing complete treatment for
direct discharge to a receiving stream of limited assimdation capacity.   The brewery was
expanded during 1973, to its present annual production capacity of 4.5 mdlion barrels.
At this time, another expansion is underway to provide an eight-million-barrel annual
brewing capacity.
Because the stream receiving the treated effluent wastewater has limited assimdation
capacity, which has already been allocated to existing stream users; no increase wdl be
permitted in allowable effluent discharge parameters.  Consequently, the wastewater treatment facdities must be expanded to provide both for the increased process wastewaters
generated by increased production and for the increased removal required to maintain
present effluent quality.
BREWING PROCESS AND WASTE ORIGIN
A simplified flow diagram of the brewing process at this facdity is shown in Figure 1
to identify the origin of by-products and wastewaters.   The grain drying system receives
wet spent grains, spent hops, trub, surplus yeast and storage yeast.   These materials are
directly dried for animal feed in a two-stage system, consisting of a flash dryer and direct
gas-fired drum dryers.   No liquids are discharged to the process sewer from this operation.
Spent caustics discharged from clean inplace systems are discharged to a spent caustic
holding tank for metering into the process waste sewer.   Wastewaters from equipment
and vessel washing and beer losses go directly to the process waste sewer.   At the present
time, no attempt has been made at this brewery to coUect spilled beer.   Spent filter media
containing diatomaceous earth, trub, yeast, and beer solids is sluiced to a sump for liquid-
solid separation with dewatered solids going to land disposal.   Spdled yeast in the yeast
handling area is also discharged to the same sump./ A leaf pressure filter is used to dewater
spent filter media sluicings and the fdtered liquor is discharged directly to the process
waste sewer.   Process wastewaters discharged from this brewery are typical of those discharged by other new large breweries with simdar in-plant process waste control systems.
WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY
The original waste treatment facdity [1] placed in operation in 1970 was expanded
with the brewery in 1973.   The treatment facdities consist of a mechanically cleaned bar
screen, aerated grit chamber, pH control, flow metering, primary clarifiers, nitrogen and
phosphorus nutrient addition, two stages of plastic media biological towers, contact and
reaeration activated sludge, final clarification, polishing lagoon, and discharge to the receiving stream.   Excess activated sludge is sprayed on land in thin applications.   The size
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