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:

1. Completion of a mass balance to calculate the main product movements.
2. A review of transfers for the identification of any product losses based on P&IDs, plant walkdowns and using the site SCADA system. 
3. Identification and quantification of product losses which were sampled from lines and drains.
4. 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.