Reducing Water Waste, Revolutionizing Brewing

Brewing beer may seem simple, but it is a surprisingly water-intensive process. For every pint you enjoy, it takes about three to four times that amount of water to make it. But here’s the catch – most of that water is not used in the beer itself. It is used for cleaning, cooling, and keeping the brewing equipment spotless.

As water becomes an increasingly precious resource, breweries around the world are under growing pressure to cut back on their water usage. Carlsberg’s Fredericia brewery in Denmark has taken on this challenge. With the help of DuPont’s Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) technology, the brewery has transformed its water management system. By recycling wastewater, the brewery has slashed its water consumption by nearly 60 %. Instead of wasting water, they are reclaiming it – cleaning it up and reusing it in the brewing process.

Led by the Belgian circular water specialists Pantarein Water, and including Dutch water treatment system designer Lenntech and DuPont – the project has virtually eliminated wastewater from the water-intensive brewing process, much of which is used for cleaning and other industrial processes.

In 2021, a new state-of-the-art water recycling plant, called Total Water Management treatment Plant, was installed at the Fredericia, brewery (in Denmark) by Pantarein Water, involving a multitech water management solution, with biological treatment processes and recovery technology.  This multitech solution helped to transform their site in Fredericia, into one of the world’s most water-efficient brewery. The water recycling plant in Denmark recycles  up to 90% of process water (the non-ingredient water) for bottle cleaning, system sanitization and other industrial processes.

The results have been transformative. The brewery now uses only 1.4 litres of water per litre of beer produced – cutting overall water consumption by 500,000 cubic meters per year.

Flexible and Efficient: How CCRO Technology Works

DuPont’s Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) systems work by circulating water through a single stage of membrane elements until the desired recovery level is achieved instead of using complex traditional multiple stage methods. Brine is periodically replaced with fresh feedwater without stopping permeate flow. Recovery is flexible and under certain conditions, some installations have achieved over 97% recovery, reducing brine waste by 50-75%.

As industries continue to face the growing pressures of water scarcity, the implementation of flexible, adaptive solutions like CCRO technology offers a clear and impactful path toward sustainable water management.