• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Grand Rapids investing in $21M biodigester to deal with wastewater from Founders and other food/beverage makers

February 7, 2017Keith Gribbins

Cool story! Grand Rapids plans $21M biodigester to deal with Founders, Amway waste https://t.co/bbOmBQS09C via @mlive #wastewater

— Ian M. Hughes (@HughesBrews) February 3, 2017

You have a biodigester. It’s called your stomach. Works pretty well, right? Well, sometimes, maybe. A commercial biodigester is often described as a “mechanical stomach.” You feed it full of organic material (most of it, you probably shouldn’t have eaten), and it gets broken down by bacteria in an oxygen-free environment. It can also produce renewable energy (like methane) and other maybe useful byproducts (like fertilizer).

Well, Grand Rapids, Mich., deals with a lot of wastewater. The city is home to some big food waste producers — Coca-Cola, Amway (think Nutrilite) and some 40 breweries in the area (it has been nominated Beer City USA), including the likes of Founders Brewing Co. To deal with all that growing wastewater (heavy in BOD and TSS), Grand Rapids plans to invest in a $21 million biodigester.

You should probably know: Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is a measure of the nutrient value of wastewater. Total suspended solids (TSS) is a measure of suspended solids in wastewater. Brewery wastewater is higher in sugar and alcohol compared to normal domestic wastewater which most treatment plants were designed to treat. According to Michigan Live:

Rather than make a $90 million expansion to the plant or require businesses to pre-treat their waste, the city decided building a biodigester was the best option, [Environmental Services Manager Mike] Lunn said.

…

In the first phase, the city wants to build three tanks that each have a capacity of 1.4 million gallons — and wants to have the system online by 2018. The plans include space for an expansion of three additional tanks.

Gas produced by the breakdown of the organic material would power a turbine, which would produce 60 percent of the wastewater plant’s electricity needs, Lunn said.

There is some concern about the smell. Apparently, the biodigester in Lowell, Mich., often smells like butthole and has been cited.

Lunn said carbon filters would be used to control odors at the biodigester — the same system that the wastewater plant uses to control odors from raw, solid waste.

Freshen your noggin up by reading some brewery wastewater basics. 

ADI systems
Case study: How Spoetzl Brewery now generates energy from its wastewater treatment system
Let’s take a peek at FIFCO’s new eco-focused, biogas creating wastewater treatment plant in Costa Rica
Watch: Founders Brewing shares tips for using a jockey box at beer events
water treatment systems
Here’s a new brewery wastewater treatment system to know: Modular Water Systems

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • 12 Orlando breweries to gamify their ale trail via Hot Hopz program
  • BeerBoard and Encompass team up, offer a powerful technology platform to manage alcohol programs
  • Cartsyde, PourMyBeer launch mobile self-pour tap system and walk-in cooler
  • Ferment Brewing to digitally print new year-round can lineup

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Constellation sells Funky Buddha and Four Corners back to original owners, says see ya to craft sector
    May 31, 2023
  • liquid-riot-teamCheers to 10 Years: Liquid Riot freshens up look for next decade
    May 30, 2023
  • People news: Colorado’s Dry Dock names new head brewer + moves from Wiseacre, Crooked Hammock and more
    May 30, 2023
  • Distribution update: Athletic Brewing brings NA beer to JetBlue + big acquisitions from Markstein and Hensley Beverage
    May 25, 2023
  • Who is ready to order alcohol direct from Diddy?
    May 25, 2023
  • taproom foodTaproom guests want food. How can you best provide it?
    May 24, 2023

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2023 · CBB Media LLC