Brewery Process Loss Investigation
Project Brief
The goal of this project was to complete an investigation of process losses in a brewery in Ireland, identify the sources of product loss and to provide a detailed plan to reduce losses.
The Solution
The following actions were carried out over the course of the investigation:
- Completion of a mass balance to calculate the main product movements.
- A review of transfers for the identification of any product losses based on P&IDs, plant walkdowns and using the site SCADA system.
- Identification and quantification of product losses which were sampled from lines and drains.
- Calculation of the precise pushout volume for each transfer through the measurement of the corresponding pipe length, allowing optimisation of all push out settings.
A proposal to minimise process losses was developed on this basis. The proposed changes were implemented by the client. These changes resulted in a waste reduction (1500 HL/year of beer), raw materials saving (€90,000 annually) and a beneficial environmental impact from avoiding discharge of 1500Hl per year of beer to waste water.