SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) is constructing a water reuse facility to help the company meet over 10 percent of its water needs annually.
The $1.8 million development is being delivered by contractor Witco Envirotech and will eventually treat 66,750 cubic metres of water per year, according to a report in Singapore source The Straits Times.
Tiger Beer, Heineken and Guinness are produced at the site by APB Singapore.
The investment from APB forms part of a wider plan by breweries to reduce their water footprints globally, for both sustainability and economic reasons.
In its 2015 Sustainability Report, Heineken set out the target to use 3.5 times the amount of water as the final end product produced, or 350 litres per 100 litres (hl), by 2020. This drops to 3.3hl/hl in water-scarce areas.
The company said: “We have been assessing water-related risks since 2010 and focus our immediate efforts on the 23 breweries in water-stressed areas. By the end of 2015, 20 of these sites has completed a Source Water Protection Plan.”
At a ground-breaking ceremony for the Singapore facility, APB announced that it plans to reduce its water consumption by 30 percent by 2020.
The project has been developed by Singapore national water agency PUB, together with the National University of Singapore and Singapore’s National Research Foundation under its Competitive Research Programme (Water).
Samson Wong, managing director of APB, reportedly said: “We hope that with projects like this, we can also inspire ourselves more on this sustainable journey and also our (industry) partners…to also look deeper into their sustainability agenda.”
A combination of technologies will be installed to help reuse the brewery effluent, including reverse osmosis membranes. The resulting treated water will be used in onsite processes, including cool towers, irrigation and general washing but not used to produce beer.
The latter is becoming a common move by major brewery companies, wishing to reuse water onsite but not going a further step and reusing the water into the manufactured beer.
However, a San Diego company – Stone Brewery – unveiled Stone Full Circle Pale Ale earlier this year which is made with the city’s recycled “pure water”.
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