Continuous Monitoring Ensures Regulatory Compliance at the Oettinger Brewery

The management and control of wastewater, created during beer production and bottling, is an integral part of the production process, with wastewater being treated onsite at a purpose-built facility prior to river discharge. Oettinger Brewery began looking to integrate systems and solutions into their wastewater treatment plant that would ensure effluent quality complied with regulatory standards which permitted to discharge of treated wastewater directly into the river.

Rising Demand

Over the years, rising demand has increased onsite production, which in turn has created greater volumes of wastewater. From 1992 - 2009 alone, the volume of wastewater requiring treatment increased significantly from 1,200 m³/D to 2,700 m³/D. During this period, the legal requirements relating to levels of chemical oxygen demand (COD) - a by-product of beer production - in discharged wastewater also decreased from 120 mg/L to 60 mg/L. To avoid contaminating natural waterways and incurring fines and penalties, effluent discharged from the brewery would need to meet these new standards.

Therefore, the Oettinger Brewery installed an on-site wastewater treatment plant and set up additional monitoring systems to measure levels of COD within the effluent stream.

Initially, the brewery relied on a system of daily manual sampling checks to monitor levels of COD in its effluent. Since the samples had to be sent to an external laboratory for verification, the results of the tests were not available in real-time, meaning spikes in COD could be left undetected while waiting on the results of sampling, and contamination events and fines would continue to pile up.

Real-Time Monitoring Solution

The requirement for a new system offering improved accuracy and reliability meant that the brewery approached Badger Meter for a solution. The recommendation to install a spectro::lyser Industrial ATEX spectrometer probe and a con::cube V3 IoT terminal formed a leading-edge solution for COD detection at the wastewater treatment plant.

Utilizing advanced spectrometry technology to analyze water quality in real-time, the spectro::lyser allows precise measurement of vital parameters within wastewater applications. Due to its power efficiency and low energy consumption, it provides a sustainable solution, offering long-term stability and maintenance-free operation. An automatic sensor cleaning system ensures consistent performance and accurate readings, completely removing the need for manual sampling and spot checks.

When combined with the con::cube terminal, which provides the capability to control the regularity of sensor cleaning, calibration and system checks, the brewery gained a powerful solution for onsite wastewater management. Through this terminal, data is available in real-time, allowing for the proactive monitoring and control of COD levels.

Operators are able to preset required levels and receive instant notification of readings that fall outside these limits. This solution now provides an early warning system that allows immediate action to be taken.

Results & Impact

With the Badger Meter solution, Oettinger Brewery has further improved efficiency by decreasing the amount of time spent on manual sampling and eliminating the requirement for costly laboratory testing. The real-time monitoring of COD has dramatically increased accuracy and reliability within the wastewater treatment plant, ensuring regulatory compliance with legal discharge limits and reducing the risk of contamination events, protecting the natural waterways and rivers in the surrounding areas.