As the microbrewery industry expands, disposal of brewery wastewater is becoming more of a concern, both for brewery operators and for local municipal wastewater authorities. Brewery wastewater is characterized as containing high strength organics and high variability in both organic and hydraulic loading. This high variability increased the challenge of treating brewery wastewater properly. Therefore, it is significant for optimizing the operation condition for the small-scale wastewater treatment system. This study conducted a batch study and a field study for optimizing a craft brewery on-site wastewater treatment system, which is equipped with two moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR). In the batch study, a two-factor Box-Wilson central composite design (CCD) was adopted to find optimum biomethane production conditions for the digestion of brewery wastewater with a dairy manure inoculum. The effects of two major influencing factors of temperature (T) (25-49°C) and brewery wastewater concentration (BWC) (2-9 g VS/L) on biochemical methane potential (BMP) (CH₄ yield) and CH₄ maximum production rate (Rmax) were evaluated by applying response surface methodology (RSM). All of the trials presented a high organic removal efficiency with volatile solid (VS) 82-91%, soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) 77-88%, and total chemical oxygen demand (tCOD) between 47% -76%. The experiment result suggested that the first-order kinetic rate constant and biogas content (methane percentage in the biogas) can be affected by the temperature. The mesophilic regime had the highest average rate constant, and the psychrophilic regime rate constant was significantly lower than the mesophilic and thermophile regime. The conditions in the thermophile range present a high variability for the first-order rate constant. The methane ratio in the biogas increased and stabilized by the operation time. Mesophilic and thermophilic regimes obtained a stabile biogas content around 25 days, and the psychrophilic regime spent extra time to stabilized. At the end of the anaerobic digestion, the psychrophilic, mesophilic, and thermophilic regimes had an average methane percentage of 47%,65%, and 67% respectively. Optimum BMP and Rmax were achieved under conditions of 49 °C and BWC of 5g VS/L. Correspondingly, the BMP and Rmax were 141.40 mL CH₄/g VS added and 36.5 mL CH₄/ day, respectively. However, by pursuing stability the preferable operational condition T=35℃ and BWC=5 g/L is recommended, at this condition methane yield is 110.07 CH₄/g VS added and maximum methane daily production is 28.06 CH₄/ day, which is similar to the maximum result. In field study, an on-site brewery wastewater treatment system equipped with two MBBR reactors was evaluated from October 12th, 2018 to February 10th, 2020 in Beau`s All-Natural Brewing Company, Vankleek Hill, Ontario, Canada. The aim of the study was to characterize the wastewater production (flow and organic loading rate), evaluate the operating conditions and performance of the MBBR system, and recommend improvements. Discharge from the brewery is highly variable for both organic and hydraulic loading with flow balancing recommended. The MBBR full-scale reactors operated at relatively stable conditions at a surface area loading rate (SALR) of less than 25 g/m2.d and dissolved oxygen (DO) greater than 2mg/L. Kinetic rate constants for suspended growth and attached growth biomass in the reactors were found to be similar at 0.0764-0.0908 h-1, however, a much larger attached growth mass in the reactors suggests that only a fraction of the attached growth biofilm is active. Effluent recycle was shown to be effective at controlling filamentous bacteria (type-0041) sludge bulking, reducing suspended solid concentration, and sCOD concentration.

Antalet mikrobryggerier runt om i Sverige har de senaste åren ökat markant. Vanligast är att dessa producerar öl som ale och stout trots att vi svenskar, om man ser till systembolagets statistik, fortfarande främst dricker lager. En anledning till få av de mindre mikrobryggerierna brygger lageröl är att bryggprocessen är mer avancerad för att brygga lager. För att brygga lager krävs, utöver den vanliga bryggutrustningen, också ett sätt att kyla ölet på först till 10°C och sedan till 0°C under en längre period. Den utrustning som används av de flesta större mikrobryggerierna är för dyr för de mindre mikrobryggerierna och bryggning av lageröl uteblir därför ofta. Ett exempel på ett mindre mikrobryggeri som har detta problem är Brewing Költur och detta arbete har haft som avsikt att lösa kylproblemet för dem. Arbetet gick ut på att ta fram ett alternativt sätt, dels att kyla en sats öl på, 300 liter, dels att hålla ölet kallt utan större fluktuationer under en längre tid. En viktig del i lösningen är att investeringskostnaden för kylanläggningen skulle vara avsevärt lägre än de alternativ som finns på marknaden idag. Projektet hade dock inte som avsikt att lösa övriga problem som finns med bryggning av lager. Resultatet blev en Bag-in-Box: en frysbox i vilken en engångspåse placerades. En luftspalt skapades mellan påsen och frysens innerkanter för att sakta ner värmeöverföringen och på så vid undvika att kyla ned jästen för snabbt vilket (annars) kan få allvarliga konsekvenser på ölet. En prototyp av produkten kylanläggningen byggdes ihop på vilken tester utfördes. Testerna visade att produkten utan problem kunde hålla stabila temperaturer under längre perioder, framförallt vid de lägre temperaturerna. Vid nedkylning från 10°C samt vid hållning av denna temperatur krävdes viss komplettering med manuell omrörning för att undvika stora temperaturgradienter i påsen. Investeringskostnaden för produkten är mycket låg medan de rörliga kostnaderna är relativt höga på grund av engångspåsen då det går åt en eller två sådana per sats bryggd öl. På grund av produktens låga investeringskostnad, enkla montering samt relativt goda förmåga att hålla temperaturer konstanta anses produkten ha potential att kunna ha stor betydelse för mindre mikrobryggerier i framtiden. / There has been a large increase of microbreweries in Sweden in the past few years, most of which produce great beers such as ales and stouts. This is however a bit strange since most Swedes seem to prefer to drink lager; at least if you study the statistics of the Swedish alcohol monopoly’s top hundred most drunken beers last year. There might be several reasons for microbreweries not brewing lagers but one reason is the equipment needed for lager brewing. Apart from the regular brewing equipment needed for brewing ales, a cooling system is needed in lager brewing in order to reach the ideal temperatures for fermentation, 10°°C, and lagering. Lagering is a process where beer is stored for weeks or months in a cold place, typically around 0°C.  The cooling systems on the market are expensive and small start-up microbreweries do not have the funds to purchase these. One example of such a microbrewery is Brewing Költur, and this study aims to solve the cooling problem for them. The goal was to design a cheaper alternative for cooling a 300-litre batch of beer but without severe changes in quality. The product needs to be able to hold stable temperatures and also lower the temperatures from 10°°C to 0°°C, both without major fluctuations in temperature within the vessel. The project did not aim at solving other lager brewing related problems. The result was a Bag-in-Box: a chest freezer in which a disposable plastic bag, big enough to fit 300 litres of beer, was placed. An air gap was created in between the inside walls of the freezer and the bag to keep the sudden cold walls from damaging the yeast by cooling it to quickly. A prototype was put together in order to test the most important features of the product. The tests showed that the product could keep stable temperatures very well in the lower temperature intervals, while it needed manual stirring in the higher regions to avoid temperature gradients, especially when the temperature was lowered. The cost of the product is overall very low. The investment cost is very low, however since the disposable bags are somewhat costly the variable cost is fairly high, yet still significantly cheaper than the alternatives on the market. It is believed that the product could be used by many smaller microbreweries in the future due to the low investment cost, its ability to keep the temperatures relatively stable and also because it is easy to assemble.

The microbrewery industry is the fastest growing industry in Sweden. In seven years, the industry has grown by 832 percent. The dramatic increase of microbreweries has led to a highly competitive business environment for these entrepreneurs. This calls for microbreweries to develop strategies for how to stand out in this increasingly competitive environment, i.e., create competitive advantages. However, previous studies have shown that craft entrepreneurs do not strive to achieve traditional economic objectives as the competitive strategy research field suggest that companies have. Hence, traditional competitive strategies may not be applicable for these entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study was therefore to develop an understanding how motivational factors affect craft entrepreneurs’ competitive strategy. To fulfill the purpose, we conducted a case study on microbrewers within the northern region of Sweden. We used a qualitative research methodology where we conducted semi-structured interviews. Seven microbreweries participated in the study. We found that craft entrepreneurs’ motivations for why they started and maintained their microbreweries were mainly because of their passion and interest for the craft and therefore this was their primary objective. However, they perceived profit as a necessity that would enable them to achieve their primary objective. Therefore, we found that these entrepreneurs have dual objectives. We also found that entrepreneurs’ motivations affected their competitive strategies. These entrepreneur’s dual objectives caused some dilemmas when the two objectives contrasted each other. We saw tendencies that this created tension among these entrepreneurs when they had to balance the two objectives of generating profit and achieving objectives related to their passion and interest for the craft. Further, we found that these tensions caused implications on the entrepreneurs’ perception of competitive strategy.  Their perception of competitive strategy differed from traditional theory in three areas. Firstly, they had a resistance to grow their businesses. Secondly, they had a resistance for product/market development. And lastly, they experienced a low level of ambiguity when competing and cooperating simultaneously. In this study, we have been able to deepen the knowledge of craft entrepreneurs and how their motivations affect their competitive strategy. This is a first step in developing an understanding of how additional objectives to profit can cause implications for competitiveness.