Sazerac Northwest Ordinance Distilling Plant Upgrades to Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor System

With a lineage dating to the 1600's, Sazerac has grown to be an established alcohol distiller, with over 450 brands of cocktails, liquors, and spirits bottled at plants around the world. Increased demand in hard alcohol has fueled a growth in Sazerac, which includes increased production at existing plants, strategic acquisitions of existing brands, and construction of new bottling plants. One of Sazerac's newest plants is in New Albany, Indiana. In 2018, Sazerac purchased the dormant 460,000 square foot General Mills Pillsbury plant in New Albany and converted it into the Northwest Ordinance Distilling (NOD) bottling facility.

As part of the acquisition, the existing infrastructure included a wastewater treatment system which primarily consisted of a complete-mix anaerobic reactor paired with a clarifier for solids retention. Reusing these assets for wastewater treatment posed many challenges for Sazerac. Poor settleability of the anaerobic solids significantly limited the solids loading rate on the clarifier, which subsequently limited the mixed liquor suspended solids concentration in the complete-mix anaerobic reactor. With a limited solids inventory in the complete-mix anaerobic reactor and persistent operator attention required to maintain adequate effluent quality, wastewater flows to the treatment plant were significantly restricted. The vast majority of wastewater generated from Sazerac needed to be hauled away at a significant expense to the plant. This approach to wastewater treatment was deemed unsustainable, so Sazerac invested in an upgrade the wastewater treatment plant.

Sazerac partnered with Xylem as a technology vendor and ThermalTech for on-site construction services to upgrade the treatment plant. The solution consisted of converting the existing anaerobic reactor to an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) system by pairing the complete-mix reactor with skids of external cross-flow ultrafiltration membranes. This approach allowed for the existing clarifier to be removed from service and decommissioned. The three membrane skids utilized Pentair X-Flow 55G membrane modules.

This solution solved many challenges with wastewater treatment at Sazerac NOD. The membranes provided complete solids-liquid separation and biomass retention, which gave Sazerac operators complete control of solids in the system. By consistently generating final effluent with very low BOD and negligible TSS concentrations, the membranes improved final effluent quality being discharged to the municipal treatment plant. Using membranes for solids-liquid separation eliminated the restriction on complete-mix reactor solids inventory which was previously in place due to the clarifier. This allowed for a significant increase in mixed liquor solids inventory from less than 3,000 mg/l to 16,000 mg/l, which permitted an increase in wastewater which could be treated, and eliminated the need for hauling wastewater, resulting in significant operating cost savings. The conversion to an AnMBR system effectively increased the hydraulic and organic loading treatment capacity of the system, without having to add any additional anaerobic reactor tanks, which helped to minimize capital expenditures associated with the treatment plant upgrade.

The following topics will be covered in depth as part of the paper on Sazerac's wastewater treatment plant upgrade:
- Review of AnMBR system operation
- Challenges associated with repurposing the existing reactor and conversion to an AnMBR system
- Operating results during the two years following conversion to an AnMBR system

The paper will describe how Sazerac's upgraded wastewater treatment plant has significantly improved final effluent quality, minimized modifications required to existing infrastructure, increased the hydraulic and organic loading capacities of the treatment plant, and reduced operating expenses by halting the practice of hauling wastewater off-site for disposal. Sazerac's investment in wastewater treatment has resulted in a quick payback, while simultaneously advancing the plant's long-term environmental and economic sustainability.