Biofilm Challenges in Breweries

  • 2 February 2022
  • Author: Chem-Aqua, Inc
  • Number of views: 5937
  • 0 Comments
Biofilm Challenges in Breweries

Breweries are obsessive about hygiene. The management of bacterial growth throughout the whole process is thoroughly monitored on a daily basis in a brewery since the consequences of bacterial action can include: off-taste, appearance change, and unpleasant odors. That’s just the product. Bacterial growth involves the formation of biofilms, which is the primary mode of survival and proliferation for microorganisms leading also to fouling and corrosion of equipment. The impact can be huge on the operations in many ways: cost of production, increased water and energy usage, production yield, commercial reputation, etc. A responsive “Get Clean, Keep Clean” approach can help breweries avoid these problems.

Managing Oxygen Corrosion in Craft Brewery Steam Boilers

Managing Oxygen Corrosion in Craft Brewery Steam Boilers

The pandemic has been challenging for many small brewers. Although draft beer sales in the US were down more than 40% in 2020, the number of craft breweries increased to an all-time high of 8,764. The popularity of these smaller breweries shows their resilience to weathering the worst of economic conditions. Although each brewery has a unique brewing style and operation, they all require the use of steam to brew. Proper boiler operation and maintenance is important to ensure an uninterrupted steam supply during brews. However, due to how small breweries operate, effectively managing oxygen corrosion can be very challenging.

Recycling COW Water in Boiler and Cooling Tower Systems

  • 7 July 2020
  • Author: Tim Daniels
  • Number of views: 16430
  • 0 Comments
Recycling COW Water in Boiler and Cooling Tower Systems

Dairy processing plants have a unique opportunity for water reuse: Condensate of Whey or “COW” water, is the water generated when milk products are evaporated or concentrated. Because milk is almost 90% water, a lot of cow water may be available for reuse. For example, a dairy plant producing 50,000 pounds of cheese a day requires about 500,000 pounds of raw milk and generates over 50,000 gallons of COW water for each day of production. That’s almost 20 million gallons of COW water annually. The economic and environmental benefits of reusing this water is significant both in terms of reducing fresh water requirements as well as the load on the wastewater treatment plant.

Steam Quality vs Steam Purity

  • 11 February 2020
  • Author: Tyler Anderson
  • Number of views: 29893
  • 0 Comments
Steam Quality vs Steam Purity

Steam quality and steam purity are topics which often get confused with each other.  Distinguishing the difference between the two will help you understand the unique impacts they have upon a steam system.

Understanding steam quality requires understanding vapor-liquid equilibrium in water. As heat is added to subcooled liquid water, it proceeds to the saturated liquid curve and becomes a saturated liquid (moving from incoming city water to point A). At the saturation point, any heat added to the water will form a vapor and the temperature will remain the same because all additional enthalpy (heat energy) being added to the system is being used to change the phase of the water from liquid to vapor.

RSS