In breweries, steam is often used to heat processes, which becomes a considerable part of the total energy cost in beer production. Bürkert flowmeter technology can help reduce those costs.
The use of steam in breweries for heating processes like mashing or wort boiling produce condensate from the heat transfer. This is a major part of a brewery’s energy costs, so being able to recover the condensate and use its remaining heat – instead of throwing it away – can lead to significant energy savings.
Hot condensate can be used to complement the initial heating process by feedback, reducing the heating cost, or can be used to assist in heating for other parts of the process.
Research has shown that heat recovery methods can greatly improve the energy efficiency of breweries. In the mashing process, waste heat can be captured from the mash or from the hot water tank overflow stream that can be used during pasteurisation to reduce the heat requirement.
Similarly, steam is used to heat the mash vessel and the recovered hot water can be used to partially preheat the mash thereby reducing steam or hot water generation requirements.
Wort boiling similarly has high energy requirements. Recovered heat from the condensate can be used to produce hot water for cleaning, space heating, keg and bottle washing or other applications in the brewery. Such systems have been shown in the research to recover up to 60 per cent of the energy required for wort boiling.
To effectively control condensate both flow and temperature parameters need to be continuously measured. Achieving this with one instrument saves cost in the overall energy saving process.
Measuring flow and temperature
Bürkert’s FLOWave multiparameter Flowmeter addresses this requirement. With its Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) technology, FLOWave measures both flow rate and temperature in low conductivity water in real time.
Sonic transducers emit sound waves into the measurement tube to measure the propagation time from the emitter to the receiver, the difference between the forward and backward propagation times correlating directly with the volume flow rate.
FLOWave devices used in the pump-down lines of condensate recovery tanks can continuously measure the flow and the temperature of the condensate, allowing the energy consumption to easily be calculated.
Benefits for breweries
The SAW technology used in the Bürkert FLOWave Flowmeter offers further measurements for applications in breweries. The instrument also measures the density and acoustic transmission factors of the fluid. These metrics aid in the detection and distinction of various liquids and with continuous temperature compensation can detect liquid property changes. In short, this single instrument can potentially also:
- detect changes in wort clarity;
- detect changes in °Plato values; and
- detect media phase changes during CIP cycles (for example).
Bürkert solutions for breweries
Bürkert can assist with all aspects of the automation and digitisation of fluidic processes in breweries. The portfolio ranges from individual components, such as process valves, to integrated solutions for all brewing processes – from the brewery to fermentation and storage to filling.
This article first appeared in the June/July edition of Food & Drink Business.
