Beer By-Product for Wastewater Treatment
Pools of wastewater are seen at a sewage treatment plant. Reuters

A beer by-product, weak wort, is proposed for use in wastewater treatment in Boulder, Colorado. Weak wort is a waste separated during beer brewing process, which is very rich in sugar content. The city of Boulder is reportedly sourcing the weak wort from Avery Brewing Company, one of the small but reputed breweries in the city.

Citylab.com reports that Boulder’s wastewater treatment facility had been looking for years to figure ways to reduce nitrogen levels in wastewater. The idea involved is to find a food source for bacteria that is capable of breaking down the nitrogen present in the wastewater, said Boulder Wastewater Process Optimization Specialist Cole Sigmon. He also added that, since bacteria love sugar, Avery’s weak wort sweet water was chosen for the process after testing other possible sources. Sigmon also mentioned that the weak wort is cheaper and environment-friendly than industrial acetic acid.

Many wastewater specialists are making use of other food by-products like whey from dairy and tofu processing, but he wanted to try something new and locally available, said Sigmon. He also added that, Avery is producing more weak wort like other breweries, and if all the breweries drain thousands of gallon of wastes, it would make water treatment difficult.

Steve Breezley, Avery's director of operations, said that Avery wasn’t dumping their chemical byproducts like other larger breweries as they had only small production units by far. Since they had opened new taproom, restaurant and state-of-art brewing facility, it is planning to increase the production, said Breezley.

Breezely also added that if Sigmon hadn’t approached him for collaboration involving wastewater treatment, he might have had to pay up to $5,000 as excess water surcharge to the city every month. Boulder is environment-friendly, but it is a great initiative to help the breweries instead of punishing or restricting them, said Breezley.

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