Condensation and thermal treatment of brewhouse vapors.

Muller, K. and Meyer-Pittroff, R.

Abstract
In conjunction with the West German Department of Energy Management in the Food Industry, the Institute for Energy Management at Weihenstephan is engaged in a research programme to reduce the emission of organic substances and odours from the brewhouse during wort boiling using two different methods. Both methods involve the application of a 50 plate heat exchanger (40 sq m total area) attached to a 310 hl capacity wort boiler reducing in volume by 18.5 hl during boiling and producing 3200 cu m vapour. The vapour can either be condensed, which removes the odorous substances almost completely, or fed to the combustion space of a 3 pass boiler supplying energy for boiling of the wort. The heat exchanger produces as much warm water as the brewery requires. The boiler temperature is raised to 1000 degrees C to destroy the hydrocarbons present in the vapours. Up to 90% of the total organic substances are removed by this combustion although carbon monoxide and expelled flue gas temperatures are higher. Inorganic gases such as nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide present in the flue gases are not affected by these treatments.
Keywords : brewing condensation economisation energy heat exchanger vapour wort boiling