While UK brewers are among the best in the world at making environmentally conscious decisions, more than 70% of the fresh water used in brewing still ends up as wastewater. This is not only potentially ecologically damaging, but also a waste of a valuable feedstock.
Breweries are energy-intensive businesses and, as such, have been particularly affected by the soaring cost of energy in 2022/23. With wastewater and energy now accounting for around 8% of costs at UK breweries, brewers are faced with the difficult decision between squeezed margins, passing costs on to consumers, or both.
WASE’s industriWASE technology tackles the dual issues of excessive wastewater and unsustainable energy costs by allowing breweries to convert organic matter in wastewater into biomethane, a renewable energy source. The modular and compact nature of WASE’s systems allows for the generation of bioenergy on site, reducing operational costs from day one of installation.
WASE has recently signed £1.1m of contracts for its industriWASE system, which includes a £500,000 contract with Hepworth & Co, the Sussex-based brewery. WASE will install its state-of-the-art industriWASE 40 system at Hepworth’s site before the end of 2023, with the facility treating an estimated 7,800 cubic metres of wastewater a year.
Once installed, the system will generate around 378 MWh of net energy a year and save more than 100 tonnes of CO2e with the biomethane produced used to decarbonise Hepworth’s heating.
“Hepworth is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and adopting sustainable business practices,” said Andy Hepworth, chairman and founder of Hepworth & Co.
“By partnering with WASE, we will be able to lower our greenhouse gas emissions while also reducing energy costs, taking us one step further towards our net zero ambitions.”
Alongside its work with Hepworth, WASE has entered into negotiations with a number of other breweries and food and drink manufacturers, and aims to secure orders of more than £10m before the end of this year.
WASE is targeting the installation of over 8,000 systems by 2030, saving over 1 megatonne of CO2e and generating 2200 gigawatt hours of renewable energy.
