Known as Alfa Laval Optiwia™, this brand-new innovative, water-saving solution is a plug-and-play unit, which has been connected to the Brew 250 at the brewery, allowing cooling water to be recirculated and re-used.  

“Our customer loved our Brew 250 centrifuge but, like all separators, it also needs water for cooling and flushing, so this was the ideal fit, especially as they have a philosophy based on sustainability and a strong engineering competence themselves,” says Louison Roy, Global Sales Brewery & Beverage, at Alfa Laval. “We have had two very dry winters in Southern Europe, and when customers start experiencing periods like this, they wisely start to look at their water consumption.” 

Responding to this widespread customer drive to optimize water use, a team at Alfa Laval started to develop a simple and affordable solution to save water in the form of a unit that can be easily retrofitted to any separators used in applications running with cold media, such as those in the brewery and beverage industries.  

The resulting Optiwia™ technology recirculates cooling water from the separator system into a collecting tank ready for reuse. This feature greatly benefits craft breweries, especially in areas with varying water availability. The Optiwia™ system adjusts for changes in water pressure, ensuring the centrifuge operates smoothly and maintaining consistent uptime.  

Water savings of up to 70% can be achieved as was the case with the French customer, which achieved around 70.5%, equating to 458,000 litres annually.  

“What makes the system unique compared to traditional recirculation solutions is that no cooling agent nor kilowatt-demanding air-liquid chiller is needed, to achieve that remarkable saving,” says Louison, continuing: “With water there are two costs. The first everybody thinks about is how much it costs to get a cubic metre of water, but the second is how much it costs to send that cubic metre down the drain – and Optiwia™ reduces the amount in both cases.” 

In addition to this, the speed and simplicity with which the technology can be retrofitted is a huge benefit in existing installations, where time and space are at a premium. 

“It is so easy to install and to use, and most importantly, it has been really effective for our customer,” says Louison. “In fact, when we turned up to install the prototype unit last October, we found that they had already installed it themselves!”   

The result is a delighted customer in France, where the Alfa Laval team continue to monitor and assess the data as they look to roll out this upgrade to more customers. 

“This customer will be a reference plant going forward and the possibilities are very exciting for large operations and small concerns alike,” concludes Louison. “The potential for water saving is huge – and there is a wide scope within a lot of applications and different industries.”