After a rapid decline in beer consumption in Australia, many breweries are looking to modernise and improve their bottom line. A proven system from a well-known pump manufacturer is helping save energy in beer production and could make breweries Down Under more sustainable.
‘Bottoms up’ is a casual way to toast an ice-cold lager, ale, stout or craft beer Down Under, but recently there have been less and less people uttering this phrase Down Under.
Australian breweries face similar challenges to those experienced by the traditional brewing industry in Europe, including high energy and raw material prices, as well as the drive for greater sustainability.
German technology could help Australian brewers in this transformation process – not with a new beer recipe, but with special pumps. This can be demonstrated by a Scottish brewery case study.
A long history
Australia’s strong historical ties to Scotland are not coincidental. James Cook, who first landed on Australia’s east coast in the 18th century, was the son of a Scottish ploughman and brought beer on his ship Endeavour as early as 1770. With around two million Australians claiming Scottish ancestry, ties to Scotland are still strong.
Fittingly, the long-established Scottish brewery, Tennent’s, is eager to show how its technological upgrade, with the proven SEEPEX Smart Air Injection (SAI) system, could benefit its beer-loving ‘cousins’ Down Under.
SEEPEX Australia’s Managing Director, Peter Vila, said, “The latest example of our collaboration with Tennent’s demonstrates the efficiency of our SAI system. Compared to conventional methods, the high-tech system significantly reduces compressed air consumption when conveying brewing by-products. It is good for the business and the environment.”
Modernising Scotland’s oldest brewery
As with many major breweries, Scotland’s oldest one was looking to enhance the transport of spent grain: an energy- intensive process to sustainably recycle the hop and malt residue. Typically, the viscous by-products from the brewing process are transported over long distances – sometimes spanning hundreds of metres – to silos. The stored nutrient- rich waste materials are later repurposed, such as in the production of animal feed or bakery ingredients.
In Europe alone, approximately 400,000t of spent grain are produced annually. However, conventional pneumatic wet spent grain handling systems consume a lot of energy by using continuous compressed air.
Tennent’s Lager, part of the leading beverage manufacturer and C&C Group distributor, committed to a solid sustainability strategy that included investment in reduction projects.
Accordingly, it turned to the experts at SEEPEX to improve the energy efficiency of its spent grain transfer process – the most intensive compressed-air process at its site.
Using less air to send spent grain
Tennent’s particular aim was to reduce the power consumption caused by the extended journey of the spent grain. At the Tennent site, in preparation for transport, two mash filters drain the spent grain to a 24 per cent DS (dry solids content). Originally, the spent grain fell from the mash filters into an expeller unit, where it was then conveyed 64m at an elevation of 20m to the silos. With the expeller, grain transfer took approximately 90 minutes after each brew and used 1125Nm3 of air.
The SEEPEX SAI system can and does work better and more efficiently. This pioneering solution combines an open hopper progressive cavity pump and pneumatic dense phase conveying to efficiently transfer 15-40 per cent DS spent grain, draff and hops in plugs. Controlled air pulses provide seamless transfer over long distances.
Air consumption has been reduced by an impressive 56 per cent, from approximately 1125Nm3 to 500-700Nm3 per brew. Implementing the SAI system has resulted in a large reduction in spent grain transfer time and the time per brew has been halved from 90 to 45 minutes. Additionally, the reduced air consumption contributes to Tennent’s carbon reduction plan by reducing electricity consumption onsite.
Setting high standards with a seamless maintenance plan
Tennent’s installed two SAI systems with a BT 70-12 open hopper pump and SAI controller.
Mr Vila said that SEEPEX had more to offer in Scotland than just the SAI system.
“As Tennent’s looks to the future, they are taking full advantage of the SEEPEX PlannedCARE package. This comprehensive service ensures proactive, timely, planned pump maintenance to ensure uninterrupted operation. It includes diagnostics to identify potential problems, enabling planned, proactive maintenance for increased uptime and lower total cost of ownership.
“With improved efficiency, significant energy savings and a focus on seamless maintenance, Tennent’s continues to set the standard for excellence in the brewing industry. The Scottish industry leader’s commitment to innovation, efficiency and sustainability is demonstrated through its partnership with SEEPEX.”
Inner workings of the SAI system
SEEPEX’s SAI system has already been successfully used in other applications and is considered a patented solution in the environmental sector. Highly viscous products, with medium to high solids content, are reliably conveyed over distances of up to 1km.
The SEEPEX system sis a combination of pumping with a progressive cavity pump and pneumatic dense phase conveying. This eliminates the blockages that often occur with low pressure pneumatic conveying systems. SAI provides a high degree of process flexibility, since it easily handles media with a variable moisture content from 60 to 85 per cent without sacrificing efficiency. Process efficiency is increased by reducing the time required to empty the system, resulting in faster throughput times.
With SAI, the potential for compressed air reduction and higher efficiency lies in the discontinuous conveying method. This is made possible by so-called pneumatic dense phase conveying, i.e. the compressed air conveying of spent grain plugs in the pipeline.
In addition, pipeline wear is significantly reduced; the flow velocities caused by plug conveying are up to five times lower than with conventional methods. The system can be easily integrated into other existing automation and control systems. This makes SAI a clean solution for breweries and many large breweries are now benefitting from it.
Pump Monitoring – small box with smart features
In addition to the PlannedCARE program used at Tennent’s, the SAI system was completed with SEEPEX Pump Monitoring. Connected to the pump and its sensors, the monitoring system measures live data such as temperature, pressure and flow. This allows the user to continuously monitor the pump and perform a live data inspection.
Users can also set alarms and trends and log all data for later performance analysis. All of this helps to prevent unplanned downtime by showing how the pump is performing and responding to changes quickly. The good news is that the pump only alerts when it detects that it is not working properly.
Connected Services and the CARE service program
SEEPEX has long been a pioneer in the field of digital solutions for progressive cavity pumps. Connected Services goes hand in hand with SEEPEX Pump Monitoring as part of the Digital Solutions portfolio.
The cloud platform is the interface between intelligent pumps, services and processes. This enables targeted evaluations and analyses that can be used for process optimisation. All collected data is reliably stored in the cloud under the highest security standards and the gathered data allows conclusions to be drawn about wear or indications that spare parts need to be ordered soon. In addition, SEEPEX algorithms analyse incoming data sets from various sensors, such as vibration, temperature and pressure. The results are ideal for predictive maintenance.
Finally, with SEEPEX CARE, the company and its highly qualified experts use the many years of pump and application knowledge for individual maintenance strategies. With the premium service program PlannedCARE, the pump manufacturer takes care of all maintenance work itself and keeps a trained eye on the entire operation. Unplanned and costly downtime and production interruptions are a thing of the past and users can benefit from an extended warranty on the pump and short guaranteed lead times for original spare parts.
Create your own success story and join Tennent’s in improving efficiency. Contact SEEPEX today to explore innovative pump solutions for the brewing industry and distilleries.
Featured image: A frothy beer freshly poured from the tap in a pub. Image: Suralai/stock.adobe.com
