Procesamiento de cerveza: tratamiento de aguas residuales y subproductos

Abstract

Brewing brings with it the production of large volumes of wastewater, approximately 10 liters for every liter produced; this wastewater contains a high load of organic matter due to the quantity of organic compounds used in elaboration. The wastewater requires treatments to dispose of it in a safe way for the environment and to take advantage of the generated by-products. Some treatments used to treat wastewater from beer production usually present high costs of both initial investment and operation and maintenance, which hinders their implementation and sustainability, however biological treatments have shown better results compared to other types, which have been implemented in places such as San Carlos de Bariloche in Argentina, China, South Africa, Venezuela and Colombia; mostly with applications of treatment levels up to secondary, an organic load removal greater than 75% is achieved. This review article compiles the different types of treatments applied to the wastewater of breweries, as well as examples of conventional and advanced treatments, with which experiences of different breweries in the world are analyzed with favorable results, representing the need to implement these treatments.