Risk & Business Magazine Benson Kearley IFG Magazine Fall 2017 | Page 29

CRAFT BREWERIES effluent discharge pH to help protect the infrastructure of the piping downstream from your facility. Continued acid or caustic conditions will affect the life span on this infrastructure. Just as important, the values outside of the confines can disrupt the receiving wastewater treatment plant process. dose the appropriate chemical (acid or base) into the tank. The mixer insures complete mix into the solution, and once the correct pH set point is met, the chemical injection turns off. The system will typically be a proportional control to administer additional product when required and less as the set point is being reached. Typical brewery effluent can be below the 5.5 pH level due to the acid level of the product and the cleaners being used during sanitation stages. Alternately, if a plant has a caustic bottle washer, they will see high alkaline levels during operation of such equipment. Caustic cleaners could also elevate the pH out of compliance. We work with Josh and the clients of Beverage Protect to offer an assessment of the current status of their wastewater and, if required, a recommendation to help get them back to compliance. We pride ourselves in being able to offer each brewery options for risk management in this area and scale it to meet their budgets. POTENTIAL TREATMENT There is a good chance that if a large enough tank were put in place to contain the various streams into one homogenous mixture, the tank could neutralize the highs and lows throughout various process changes. However, this tank can take up a lot of space in the brewery, which may not be practical. CONCLUSION AND CONSEQUENCES The last part of this equation that you may be asking yourself is, what are the implications or costs associated if my brewery is in breach of these bylaws? This can vary in each province however, in all cases there are no notifications or warnings of testing being done. The Ministry of the Environment has prescheduled timelines to test various bodies of water, sewer systems, and independent businesses such as craft breweries. Once the levels exceed the b ylaw levels, surcharges and fines are applied immediately, and in worst-case scenarios, operations are shut down until this can be corrected. Don’t be reactive with your wastewater. Be proactive and ensure your A PH CORRECTION SYSTEM MAY BE THE ANSWER Utilizing smaller mixing tanks and a pH controller with chemical addition pumps can complete the required pH neutralization. Having a collection sump pit with a pump is the easiest way to collect the wastewater before leaving the facility. From here, it can be pumped to a treatment system and returned to the sewer by gravity (or pumped). The basic treatment system involves a pH dosing tank (or tanks) with a mixer, a pH sensor, and a chemical Metering Pump system. Once the wastewater enters the tank, the pH probe will read the pH and outputs are within the acceptable levels. Beverage Protect was created to support unique insurance and risk management needs, like the environmental risk of wastewater for the brewing industry. Areas such as health and safety compliance, standard operating procedures, and the wastewater concerns addressed in this article are important to breweries across the country. For this reason, we have partnered with people like Matthew Marion of H2Flow to provide you with the right kind of investments to mitigate risks to your business. Beverage Protect prides itself in providing not just an insurance policy but a complete Risk Management approach to doing business. Beverage Protect offers craft breweries, wineries, and distilleries a customized insurance program that offers the best coverage available with the best rates in Canada. For more information, please feel free to contact me or visit beverageprotect.ca BY: JOSHUA KEARLEY PROGRAM SPECIALIST, BEVERAGE PROTECT POWERED BY BENSON KEARLEY IFG Contact him today at [email protected] or at 1-844-213-2469. 29