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  • Brewery emmsions

    Has onyone used, or know of a manufacturer of a steam essions scrubbing device. I need to go before a planning commision and would like to tell them I will be emiting an oderless steam.

    I Will be brewing on a 20 bbl system, and producing under 5000bbl a year.

    Also, is there a refernce anywhere that lists the general chemical make up of the steam, ie. DMS or any other smelly substances.

    thanks
    Scott
    Cheers,

    Scott Vaccaro
    Captain Lawrence Brewing CO
    Elmsford, NY
    www.CaptainLawrenceBrewing.com

  • #2
    Re: Brewery emmsions

    Originally posted by ScottV
    Has onyone used, or know of a manufacturer of a steam essions scrubbing device. I need to go before a planning commision and would like to tell them I will be emiting an oderless steam.

    I Will be brewing on a 20 bbl system, and producing under 5000bbl a year.

    Also, is there a refernce anywhere that lists the general chemical make up of the steam, ie. DMS or any other smelly substances.

    thanks
    Scott
    Wow, Scott...........talk about timing!
    To meet a requirement for the building owner here in Mukilteo, we had to put together a plan to reduce our odors as well should someone become offended.

    I did quite a bit of research on wet scrubbers and put together a viable plan. The system I specified was made up of a Severn Trent Services (EST Corp) B910 6" Wet Scrubber on a 500 gallon water tank from McMaster-Carr. I was going to have to weld a ANSI B16.5 Class 150 Flange to the tank to bolt the scrubber to. I was planning on using a jacuzzi type turbin centrifugal pump to get the flow from the bottom of the tank up to the sprayer inlet. The wet scrubber would bolt directly to and empty into the tank. The incoming air from teh scrubber, or the resulting 'scrub", as it were, would be carried out from another port in the tank.

    Basically, the Kettle steam is drawn into the scrubber due to the draft created by the venturi and water spray inside. I calculated that we would generate about 57 - 60 cu-ft of steam per minute for a 1 hour boil and boil off about a 1/2 Bbl (we boil off 1/4 Bbl on our 7 Bbl system at our first site). The scrubber has to be able to draw off at least 60 cu-ft / min.

    A way I calculated this was that water is 1 lb / .12 gal. 15.5 gal is 129.2 lb, and 1 lb of water will produce 26.8 cu-ft of steam (specific volume of steam at atmospheric pressure, sea level). 15.5 gallons will produce 3,462.6 cu-ft of steam per hour, or 57.7 cu-ft / min. I rounded up to 60 cu-ft / min.

    The B910 6" wet scrubber was chosen due to it's diameter at 6" and will 250 cu-ft / min if the water venturi is under full flow. I sized mine to 8.5 gpm water flow based on talking with a Trent Severn Engineer which would produce about 60 cu-ft / min at 2.25" water column (.081 psi). You should note the vacuum pressure because if it gets too great, you could cause other issues with the Kettle structure. What you want is to:
    1.) Cool the steam into condensate.
    2.) Remove odors.
    3.) Create a draft that pulls low pressure air into the Kettle stack (and scrubber) while the doors are open.

    While observing this, and realizing that if you don't recirculate the scrubber water you'll be dumping 510 gal / hour down the drain, you'll find you need a reservior of water to run through your scrubber. However, the enthalpy of steam (I beieve I'm applying this term correctly) at atmospheric pressure is 1150.5 BTU / lb, and every pound of steam you process through your scrubber will dump heat into the reservior. I calculated that a 300 gal tank at a 68 F room temp will be at 130 F at the end of the hour. You would not be able to run a second batch if you double brewed and could reduce the ability to condensate any boiled volitiles if you got much higher. That's why I went with a 500 gal tank, with a 39 F rise, for a final first run at 107 F.

    Another way around this temperature climb issue is to incorporate a radiator type heat exchanger, a smaller reservior, and a Ranco type temperature control unit to turn on a separate pump and cooling loop when the temp exceeded a set value.

    I assumed we would change the scrubber water once per week. I also recently read an interesting book on Chlorine treatment methods to solve a yeast BOD problem we had a our first site and saw that chlorine will react with sulfides to produce something more inert. Based on this, I was planning on adding 1/2 - 1 gal of chlorine bleach to the 500 gal scrubber tank.

    What's really cool about wet scrubbing of Kettle stack emissions is that the steam is condensated out, the gas cooled, and what remains is more or less a cool draft with a greatly reduced smell. You can use PVC ducting from the reservior tank on out through the roof! A lot cheaper than stainless, and a far cry easier to work with. Mcmaster-Carr carries that as well.

    Anyway, sorry this is so long, but I put a little thought into this, and though we haven't had to use it yet, I have all the confidence it will work. The cost of such a plan would be anywhere from $5K - $7K new, depending on what you find for a tank, etc. Trent Severn is in Philadelphia, and are great people.

    If you have any questions, please ask away.

    Good luck!

    Comment


    • #3
      Thanks for the detailed answer, it seems like you really did your homework.

      I have another related question. I am having a real hard time verbalizing to the village building inspector and the planning board how the steam will smell, as well as how far the odor will travel, how much will be emitted, how far away it can seen from, ect.

      Does anyone have any suggestions on how to best present this information to a town board that has no idea what a brewery looks like or smells like.

      Thanks
      Scott
      Cheers,

      Scott Vaccaro
      Captain Lawrence Brewing CO
      Elmsford, NY
      www.CaptainLawrenceBrewing.com

      Comment


      • #4
        Perhaps suggest that they imagine you are a bakery instead of a brewery. The smells are not dissimmilar, and most people have experience smelling a bakery or hot bread shop before...

        There are plenty of precidents where breweries are set up smack bang in the middle of city centers or holiday resorts, and they are able to operate without being offensive in matters of odours and noise. Suggest that it's not a major problem?

        Our approach was also to make PROVISION to install equipment IF there was an odour problem retrospectively once there was some operating experience at our particular location. This might save you from having to make hard committments before you even open, yet also show you are willing to review if necessary. 'If necessary' is usually defined by the presence or otherwise of any complaints!

        Hope this helps with brain storming...

        Comment


        • #5
          We need no shteenking Planning Board!

          Scott,

          That's a tougher one. When we applied here in Mukilteo, we were the only Brewery outside the Seattle area. They asked me the same questions. I referred them to several Seattle Breweries, and the matter was kinda dropped at that point.

          When we got our lease for our 2nd Brewery late last year, the building owner asked me the same question. Here's how I described it:

          "Our emissions are water steam with some hop volitiles present. It is non-toxic, and will last only about 1.5 hours during the day. Some liken the smell to an intense baking bread with a heavy floral spice astringency. It is non-corrosive, tolerable, and actually enjoyed by some."

          Also, Scott, do you have a candidate location? If so, take a look at the zoning. When we were scouting locations for B2 (our 2nd), I chose Light Industrial zoning. Certain business and nearly all industrial zoning allows for smeels and industrial noises.
          In fact, Mukilteo's City Hall is in an "LI" zoning and are our next door neighbor. When a City Planner said, "Your'e right next door?!?! Is it going to smell around here?"
          I said, "Yeah........a little.......for about an hour and a half."
          He said, "Maybe we'll have to look into that."
          I replied, "Dude, I had another site all picked out. You said I can't have a Production Brewery in that zoning. Right next to you was a Light Indrustrial zoned building were it was allowed. Howdy Neighbor!.......By the way, why is our City Hall in an Industrial Park?"
          Or something like that.........

          The moral is to check your zoning and what's allowed there. Anything with Industrial in it will allow your emissions without any regard, I would think.

          You could also boil up a small batch of wort (with hops, etc.) and put it in a big thermos. Take it down to City Hall with a cake pan and pour the thermos in the cake pan to give a greater surface area for evaporation. That should be close, Scott.

          Comment

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