Brewery energy efficiency project

This 20 year-old brewery and producer of a range of soft drinks has received a number of international quality control certificates and international prizes. It is now keen to enhance competitiveness by improving its energy efficiency.

The brewery has three brew kettles (K1, K2 and K3), where the most energy intensive part of the beer production takes place. K3, in which mash is used in the beer making process, consumes the largest amount of steam in the entire facility. The heat exchanger is poorly designed, so that the process takes longer than necessary, some of the steam does not condense, and a lack of metering and control devices makes it difficult to operate the brewing process efficiently.

In addition, one of the two heavy oil fuel boiler burners is badly in need of replacement. At 25 years old, the burner on one of the boilers (bought second hand), is both inefficient and difficult to regulate. Further, there is no equipment to properly monitor the entire production process.

To address the problems, the company applied to a local bank for a loan under the EBRD’s WeBSECLF programme that finances sustainable energy solutions. The WeBSECLF auditors confirmed that by investing in a new boiler burner, control equipment and heat exchanger, the energy savings would pay back the loan in 2.4 years. It also qualified for the WeBSECLF 15% cash bank incentive fee for EE investments and 20% incentive fee for burner replacement.

This project was supported by the European Union.