New plant 'sets Indian industry standard'
India’s United Breweries (UB) has revealed what it hopes will become the blueprint for sustainable beer production on the Sub-continent - a $35 million greenfield facility near the city of Hyderabad.
The plant is capable of annually producing 1 million hl of beer for India’s largest market, Andhra Pradesh, and over the next three years capacity will be doubled, at a cost of $15 million, to keep pace with Indians’ rocketing thirst for beer.
The facility, which will become UB’s largest following the second phase of construction, packages beer in returnable bottles but uses just 3.5 litres of water per litre of beer brewed and offers 10% energy savings and extract loss savings of 4 to 5%.
According to UB, the plant, commissioned in January, boasts a biomass boiler that converts rice husks into thermal energy, reducing its reliance on fossil fuels. A vapour absorption chiller provides efficient refrigeration for wort cooling while a wort heat eecovery system helps further lower the facility’s energy intensity.
A combination of anaerobic digestion, lamella clarification and reverse osmosis helps to increase water re-use in the plant and a rain harvesting system helps maintain the local water table.
Associated outside lighting at the plant uses LED lamps fed by solar cells, while its offices use a geo-thermal air conditioning unit to further cut energy-use. The façade of the building is fitted with light reflective glazing and hollow heat insulating bricks help to insulate the plant from the often oppressive heat outside.
The project used equipment from a variety of Indian and European suppliers. The facility is the first UB plant to boast a Meura mash-filter. The brewery also uses an Alfa Laval high gravity dilution system. KHS was chief supplier of the plant’s 36,000bph bottling line while the brewhouse and cellar was designed and supplied by Praj, in collaboration with Meura and Holverika.
Annual demand for beer in India currently stands at around 16 million hl and UB – controlled equally by Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya and Heineken – commands a 50% share of the market. Continued strong growth in beer consumption in India is forecast for coming years.
The average size of Indian breweries remains relatively small thanks to interstate trade barriers that make shipment of beer across state lines uneconomical. Indians have a penchant for stronger beers of between 6.5 and 7% abv, with this sector accounting for 75% of the market.
By Rob Brown
Based on the following sources:
http://www.brewersguardian.com/
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