Case Study #4: Wineries

Scheid Vineyards

Scheid is a large custom crush and high quality wine producer located in Greenfield, CA. They have the capacity to process up to 30,000 tons of fruit per year. Scheid has judiciously honed in their cellar practices so that they use just 1.5 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of wine produced. The industry average is about 3:1, and some wineries reach up to 12:1. Scheid’s excellent water conservation practices translate to having a concentrated waste stream. On average, their water flows reach up to 110,000 gallons per day at up to 6,400 BOD during harvest.

The facility has 3 treatment ponds at 2.36 M gallons, 2.09 M gallons, and 1.1 M gallons. They were using 105 hp of brush aerators. Scheid was unhappy with the units because they were difficult to maintain, they did not control odor, and were not providing sufficient oxygen to treat the ponds. The water quality was so poor that they were experiencing problems with the water clogging their drip irrigation system, despite having 3 large sand filters. Last year they removed 250,000 gallons of sludge from their irrigation pond. They were planning on additional dredging in the second pond when they heard about ClearBlu Environmental.

In late April 2010 ClearBlu installed 18 ultra fine bubble surface aerators. Scheid did their due diligence in researching a variety of other technologies, including looking at blower systems.  They ultimately decided that ClearBlu was the best option for several reasons. The systems are very low energy, low maintenance, and have complete service agreement packages. The aerators have much higher oxygen transfer efficiency (lb O2/hp/hr) specs over other technologies, and because of the ultra fine bubbles that are created more of that oxygen is usable. The aerators have the ability to aerate to depths of 20 feet, making an entirely aerobic treatment environment. Properly oxygenated water combined with a specialized microbial treatment is the key to digestion of existing sludge and incoming BOD. 

This installation reduced Scheid’s horsepower from 105 to just 54. These ultra fine bubble aerators have many benefits, and one additional convenient advantage is their small size and low weight. Each unit and float totals only about 150 lbs. The setup was designed so that aerators could be moved easily between ponds to focus on problem areas. At the time of installation in April 2010, sludge depths in the primary pond ranged from 8”- 4’ in various locations. A recent check in August 2010 revealed depths of just 3”- 14”. In a four month period the ClearBlu system was able to reduce sludge by 30-40% in some areas of the treatment pond.

In addition to significant sludge reduction, Scheid is seeing significant operation cost reduction. A third party company, Base Energy, works with PG&E on rebate incentives for projects like this one. They conducted a full inspection of the site before and after installation, and came back with some impressive numbers. The findings were that the new system would allow Scheid to use 326,268 kWh/yr less than with their old system. This translates to an estimated annual savings of $39,152. This reduction also made Scheid eligible for a $32,417 rebate incentive from PG&E. The rebate combined with first year energy savings comes out to a 38% savings on the total installation cost, and the new system has a 4 year simple payback period.

Recent lab analysis of the wastewater in October 2010 shows the influent at 4,080 mg/L BOD and the effluent at just 36 mg/L BOD.

Conn Creek Winery

Conn Creek was using two 7.5 HP aerators and one 5 HP to treat a 500,000 gallon process wastewater pond.  The winey was unable to meet Napa County Health Department standards for land applying their wastewater, i.e., to use it as irrigation water, due to high TSS levels.  As a result, they had to discharge the wastewater to an underground infiltrator leach field.  The winery had dredged their pond several years prior at a cost of $75,000 and yet had built up 18” of sludge in the pond.  In addition they had an odor issue which was problematic due to the pond’s proximity to the tasting room.

ClearBlu replaced the existing aerators with new low energy ultra fine bubble surface aerators, reducing the horsepower in the pond from 20 to 9.  When we started treatment in March of 2009, the effluent TSS was 146 mg/l. By late April it was 28 and by June it was down to 20 mg/l.  The most recent test result from February 2010 showed a TSS level of 35, BOD level of 19, and an LDO of 9 mg/l.  We reduced the sludge level in the pond by 6” in 4 months and by November of 2009 the sludge depth was down to 4”.  The pond now has very soft dark liquid on the bottom of the pond with no sludge.  To keep initial cost considerations in mind, this particular system was sized for slightly less than harvest loading and thus the harvest season brings light sludge accumulation reaching approximately 12”. Once harvest has ended the pond has time to play a little catch up and the sludge is digested over a few months.

ClearBlu is happy to report that for the first time in a long time Conn Creek is finally meeting all necessary requirements for land application and have begun irrigating their vineyard using treated wastewater.

» Read Full Article on Conn Creek Winery Benefiting from Green Reclamation Technology

Jordan Winery

Jordan has one 300,000 gallon pond and one 150,000 gallon pond.  They had two 7.5 HP aerators in pond one and one 7.5 HP unit in pond two.  Their incoming BOD was 3,500 mg/l and their flow averaged 6,000 gallons per day.  They had built up 14” of heavy sludge in pond one and wanted to reduce their energy consumption.

We replaced the three 7.5 HP units with three 3 HP units and began microbial treatment on September 2, 2009.  At that time we measured the sludge depth in 6 locations.  The average sludge depth was 14”.  During harvest we added one 3 HP aerator to keep up with the increased load.  The winery had planned on dredging pond one before we installed, but wasn’t able to.  By November 2009 we had reduced the average sludge depth by 2” to 12”, so the winery decided to use the aerators and microbes to reduce the sludge, assuming that this would be a far less expensive solution than dredging.  In February, 2010, we took sludge depth readings and found that the average sludge depth had decreased to 10”.  A June 2010 sludge reading showed 8” in three locations and 5” in one location.

Castoro Cellars

Castoro was in compliance for treating their wastewater and land applying it.  The issue for the winery was that they had increased production and the cost of treating the wastewater was excessively high.  Castoro was using a complex DAF treatment system as well as pond aerators.  The system required that they have a full time operator and they consumed approximately $5,000 worth of coagulant per month.  In addition, they had to dispose of the sludge waste.  The pond was producing quite a bit of odor.

We converted the DAF to a biodigester, eliminating its larger blower system and replaced the pond aerators with low energy micro bubble surface aerators.  We achieved an overall reduction in power consumption of 80%, eliminated the need for the operator and eliminated the use of the coagulant.  The winery received a $9,600 rebate from the utility operator.  We reduced their sludge depth in the pond from 18” to 6” in one year and completely eliminated the pond odor.

Monthly savings:

Energy:            $1,100

Coagulant:       $5,000

Operator:         $3,300

Total:             $9,400