Containerised wastewater treatment plant for a winery

The Fürstlich Castell’sches Domänenamt Winery near Würzburg, Germany wanted to modernise its existing wastewater treatment plant. This consisted of an aging SBR system. The winery planned to dismantle it step by step and replace it with a ClearFox® containerised wastewater treatment plant with fixed-bed reactors. The winery Castell wants to discharge the treated wastewater into the municipal wastewater treatment plant with reliable treatment performance.

Over a period of one month, PPU took 13 wastewater samples and analysed them in the company’s own laboratory with regard to their contaminant load. They found an average COD of 6,600 mg/l, while over 10,000 mg/l were reached at the peak. The BOD₅ was also around 3,500 mg/l, and the ClearFox® team also determined the pH value and the nitrogen content. To comply with the required indirect discharge values, the COD must be constantly below 600 mg/l and the BOD₅ below 300 mg/l.

Since the grape harvest is seasonal, the winery Castell produces different amounts of wastewater. During the harvest, the amount of wastewater is between 35 and 45 m³ per day. Afterwards, the company concentrates on the production of ice wine. Until Christmas, therefore, about 10 to 15 m³ of wastewater are produced per day. The containerised wastewater treatment plant for the winery must therefore be able to compensate for the fluctuating wastewater flows.

At the beginning, a screening screw filters all coarse components such as small branches, cores, or shell residues out of the wastewater. Then the wastewater flows into a buffer, which mixes it with aeration. There, a small biological treatment already takes place. From the buffer, the wastewater flows into the fixed-bed reactor. This reactor reduces the COD and BOD₅ to the required tenth by using microorganisms. After a ClearFox® lamella clarifier separates the clearwater from the sludge, the latter flows into a sludge storage tank. An integrated aeration system prevents thickening at intervals and thus facilitates extraction.

The winery Castell opted for the ClearFox® solution with fixed-bed reactor, as it compensates for the fluctuating inflows much better than the existing SBR process. Even with varying dirt loads, the microorganisms treat the wastewater reliably. For this project, the ClearFox® team took over the complete planning of the project, the construction of the wastewater treatment plant, the delivery, the installation and commissioning on site and the training of the employees.