Characterisation of Environmental Contaminants in Brewery Effluents: Wastewater Monitoring

Environmental standards play an important role in maintaining the quality of our natural environment. This is even more significant when dealing with industrial effluent discharges. This work is geared towards the analysis of the type, source and path of contaminants, and their effects with regards to brewery effluents. This work was necessary to provide an independent and unbiased assessment of the state of the environmental quality for this particular industry, thereby enabling the assessment of effluent compliance with local environmental standards. Results have indicated that, with the exception of the heavy metal concentrations, none of the parameters investigated for the final brewery discharge were compliant with the proposed effluent standards. Some of the recommendations offered to assist in the remediation of the problems associated with the disposal of brewery waste include improved recycling techniques, effluent pre-treatment, and the adoption of in-plant quality criteria standards. The analysis should shed light on the processes involved in beer manufacturing, industrial wastewater analysis, and other aspects of effluent management, and environmental monitoring.