Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade Project (WWTP)

Marlon Cabrera Engineering Department

Cervecera de Puerto Rico Mayaguez, PR

Introduction A common challenge for breweries is meeting current wastewater discharge standards while accommodating growth and anticipating more stringent discharge regulations in the future. Cervecera de Puerto Rico wastewater treatment system had been in operation for a long time, but years of service and increased hydraulic and organic loadings had made it difficult to meet treatment objectives. For years Cervecera de Puerto Rico wastewater treatment plant was affecting the image of the company and had become a priority for the future of the company.

Potential Issues • Regulatory Compliance of Waste Water Discharge

• Possible surcharges • Controls were mostly manual, there were no instrumentation automated monitoring

parameters of waste water treatment process

• Operation of Return Activated Sludge Systems (RAS) was inconsistent due a to past retrofits and obsolete equipment

• Operation and maintenance of the treatment systems rotating biological contactors had

become a very high total operational costs • Increased hydraulic and organic loadings • Bad odor generation at the treatment plant • Bad image of the company

Before Process Diagram of WWTP

Pista-Grit

Equalization Tank Digester/

Thickener

Clarifier

Pump #1

Pump #2

Blocked discharge connections to/from reactor

Pressed if needed

Reactor

Previous Rotating Biological Contactors

Previous Rotating Biological Contactors

Previous Clarifier

Legal Limits and Requirement of Samples Applied Load

PARAMETERS DOWNLOAD LIMIT

BOD (mg/L) 250

TSS (mg/L) 250

Before - Graph of BOD

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

BOD

(g/m

l)

Month/Year

Biochemical Oxygen Demand

Before - Graph of TSS

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

TSS

(g/m

l)

Month/Year

Total Suspended Solids

Challenges • Regulatory compliance with the permit. • Reduce the environmental footprint of the plant • Cost effective technologies

• Limited budget of 1.3M • Space construction limited

• Withstand large changes in demand while maintaining efficient • Reduce odors • Make changes without stopping operation

• Reduce total operating costs

CERVECERA DE PUERTO RICO PILOT study

MOVING BED BIOREACTOR (MBBR) TECHNOLOGY

MBBR #1

MBBR #2

ACID PUMP

ACID TANK

INFLUENT PUMP

EFFLUENT

AIR CONTROL VALVES AIR PRESSURE

REGULATOR

INFLUENT LINE ACID PUMP

CERVECERA DE PUERTO RICO WWTP MBBR PROJECT

CERVECERA DE PUERTO RICO WWTP MBBR PROJECT

Paramecium Vorticella

Epistilys Vorticella

CERVECERA DE PUERTO RICO WWTP MBBR PROJECT

0.00

500.00

1000.00

1500.00

2000.00

2500.00

3000.00

3500.00

4000.00

3578.00

1193.00

186.00 29.30 250.00

SOLU

BLE

BOD

(PPM

)

SOLUBLE BOD 10/23/2009

INFLUENTE SOLUBLE BOD WWTP REACTOR SOLUBLE BOD MBBR #1

SOLUBLE BOD MBBR #2 PRASA BOD PERMIT LIMIT

CERVECERA DE PUERTO RICO WWTP MBBR PROJECT

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

61.08%

93.93% 99.04%

SOLUBLE BOD REMOVAL 10/23/2009

BOD REMOVAL % WWTP REACTOR BOD REMOVAL % MBBR #1

BOD REMOVAL % MBBR #2

CERVECERA DE PUERTO RICO WWTPMBBR PROJECT

Solution: Upgrading the WWTP

The Engineering Department along with EH&S evaluated different treatment alternatives to determine the viability of upgrading the existing facilities to achieve permit parameters. • Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) • Tank Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF), system without air

saturation

MBBR Design Basis

PARAMETER UNITS INFLUENT EFFLUENT

Flow MGD 0.15 0.15

BOD5 (Soluble) MG/L 1,800 <250

TSS MG/L 2,000 <250

COD (Soluble) MG/L 2,350 <425

Ammonia MG/L No data available -

P MG/L No data available -

Temperature ° C 20-38 -

Project Scope Tasks Original Scope Currently Achieved Reactor Tank Retrofit X X Blowers Replacement X X DAF Installation X X Acid Dosing Station Automation X X Caustic Soda Station Automation X X Caustic Soda Receiving Station Automation X pH/Temp Monitoring EQ Tank X X pH/Temp/DO Monitoring Reactor Tank X X Influent Flow Metering X X Influent Temperature Monitoring X Central process overview X X Tank Levels X X Belt Press automation X Electrical Utilities X Air Utilities X Water Utilities X Pads/Dikes/Civil Work X Instrumentation and Integration X X Aesthetical Improvement X Waste Water Lift Station Upgrade X New Laboratory Furniture X X

Project Budget

• Project Budget $1,394,036

• Discharge Overcharges $98,069 • Negotiated PRASA Limits

• BOD - 5,633 mg/L • TSS - 2,628 mg/L

• Currently consumed $1,358,641

Actual Process Diagram of WWTP

Belt Filter Press &

Container

Moving Bed Biofilm

Bioreactor (315,000 gals)

Digester 89,000 gals

Screens

DAF

Utilities Brew House Cold Block Packing Lines PRASA

Equalization Tank

292,000 gals

Lift Station

X X X

X X Blowers

Blowers

Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR)

• A stand-alone biological treatment system with no need

for media backwashing • Wastewater treatment plants of this type operate as

fixed-film processes without activated sludge recycle between the bioreactor and clarification units

• Aeration supplied provides oxygen, essential for

microbial growth, and the energy required to disperse the carriers completely throughout the system

Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR)

MBBR System

Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR)

Process uses 25 mm-diameter cylindrical plastic carriers that provides environments in which bacteria and protozoa can grow effectively.

Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR)

Dissolved Air Flotation Operation (DAF)

Separates and optimizes solids prior to dewatering

Dissolved Air Flotation Operation (DAF)

Dissolved Air Flotation Operation (DAF)

WWTP Retrofit

WWTP Retrofit

WWTP Retrofit

WWTP Retrofit

WWTP Retrofit

WWTP Retrofit

Belt Press

Now - Graph of TSS

20

1600

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150 270

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135

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TSS

(g/m

l)

Month/Year

Total Suspended Solids Efficiency

Actual TSS Before TSS Limit

Now - Graph of BOD

10.0

0

700.

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133.

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111.

00

193.

00

128.

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101.

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BOD

(g/m

l)

Month/Year

Actual BOD Before BOD Limit

Biochemical Oxygen Demand Removal Efficiency

Summary Savings

• Maintenance Costs 70% • Chemicals 50% • Generation of H2O • Power Cost 35% • Odor reduction • Regulatory compliance without overcharges 100%