Performance of

green walls in
treating brewery
wastewater
Source: Unknown

Scott Wolcott
Rochester Institute
of Technology
USA

Source: St. John Fischer College (GLTi, 2015)

 What’s the
problem?
Source: Napa WW Treatment Aeration (Quakenbush, 2009)

• Wastewater from small to medium sized

food and beverage manufacturers
• High solids content
• High organic matter content
• High nitrogen and phosphorous content
• Variable pH and intermittent flows
 What’s the
problem?

• Successful businesses!
• 79% increase in number of craft breweries in New
York State during 2013 .
• ~300% increase in number of wineries in New York
State between 2000 and 2013
• Overloaded onsite treatment systems
• Increased sewer use fees
 What’s the
problem?
• Overloaded onsite treatment systems
• Releases to the environment
• New commercial sized septic system
• Increased sewer use fees
• 10,000 BBL/yr ~ $7,700/month (USD)
• Traditional wastewater treatment system
• High capital and operation costs
 Previous Research:
Grey water and green walls
• Bussy, 2009
• Thesis, Uppsalla
University, Sweden
• System with 2 ponds d/s
• Recycle: 3.6 times
• Media: ~ 1 cm gravel
• BOD removal efficiency of
green wall: 46%
• 8.0 mg/l => 4.32 mg/l Figure 5. Green Wall (Bussy, 2009)
 Previous Research:
Grey water and green walls
• Svete, 2012
• Thesis, Norwegian
University of Life
Sciences
• Intermittent dosing
• Bed media: 2 – 4 mm
filtralite
• BOD removal
efficiency: 98%
• 129 mg/l => 2 mg/l
Source: Green Wall (Svete, 2012)
 Previous Research:
Grey water and green walls
• Cameron, 2012
• Dissertation, Penn State,
US
• Integrated biofilter
• Media: Norlite, manure,
peat moss, tire crumb,
potting soil, and crushed
limestone.
• Batch, 72 hours
• 35% increase in BOD
removal (95%) when
green wall was
incorporated (w/o plants)

Source: Integrated biofilter (Cameron, 2012)

Are Green Walls the
Answer?
• Yes and No
• Advantages
• Low capital and
operating costs
• Small footprint
• Disadvantages
• Unproven
technology

Conceptual Green Wall Pretreatment Schematic (Wolcott, 2014)

This research
• Objective
• Evaluate the use of
green walls for
pretreatment of high
strength wastewater.
• 4 scenarios
• Media, only
• Media with plants
• Media with biofilm
• Media with plants and
biofilm

Source: Green Wall at Greentopia (Martin, 2011)

Methodology
• Green Living
Technologies
International
• 100 mm (4-inch) Source: http://www.soa.utexas.edu/matlab/search/materials

panels
• Poraver media
• 4 – 8 mm diameter
• Recycled glass
• Lightweight
• Golden Pothos
• Epipremnum aureum
Source: http://walls-of-green.com/wog/products/green-walls
 Methodology

• Batch process • No duplication of

• Partially treated WW experiments
• Turbidity: 70 - 600 mg/l • Used R2 values to
• BOD5: 500 – 1,200 mg/l evaluate the
• Total Nitrogen: 40 mg/l
reliability of the
analytical results
• Total Phosphorous: 4 mg/l
• Normalized results
• C/Co
 Results

• 24-hr removal efficiency

• < 60% for scenarios w/o biofilm
• > 60% for scenarios w/biofilm
• R2 > 0.96 scenarios w/biofilm
 Results

• Scenarios with biofilm outperformed

scenarios without biofilm.
• > 50% removal after 5 hours
• R2 > 0.90 scenarios with biofilm
• R2 < 0.72 scenarios without biofilm
 Results

• Scenarios with biofilm outperformed

scenarios without.
• > 50% removal after 3 hours
 Results

• No significant removal observed

 Green Wall Results
Media with plants and biofilm, % removal
Parameter/time 6 hrs 12 hrs 24 hrs
Turbidity
(solids) 50% 60% 70%

BOD5
(biodegradable 70% 80% 85%
compounds)

Nitrogen 60% 60% 65%

Phosphorous 5% 5% 10%
 Discussion
• Preliminary testing suggests that green
walls can reduce some components of
high strength organic wastewater
• Turbidity and BOD
• 50% removal in 6 hours or less (except media
with biofilm)
• Biofilm had a positive impact
• Nitrogen and Phosphorous
• Inconclusive
Current Research
• Better flow path
control
• Media selection
• Growstone
• Plant selection
• Golden Pothos
• Stronger WW
• Triplication
Acknowledgements

Peter Martin, Civil Engineering

Technology Graduate 2012.
Reference List
• Arnold, Jason. (2010). 052.jpg [image file.] Retrieved from:
http://jasonarnoldmsu.blogspot.com/2010/11/green-walls.html
• Goodman, Jennifer. (2012). 1111b_EH_MillDist_GreenWall_6_tcm10-1597135.jpg
[image file.] Retrieved from: http://www.builderonline.com/green-building/green-
roof-and-wall-market-expected-to-grow.aspx
• GLTi. (2015). St. John Fischer College.jpg [image file.] Retrieved from: email from
info@agreenroof.com received on June 24, 2015
• Martin, Peter. (2011). GreenWall at Greentopia, September 2011. [image file.]
Rochester, New York
• Quackenbush, Jeff. (2009). Lyve-Australia_c. [image file.] Retrieved from:
http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/16650/napa-sanitation-looks-at-options-
for-winery-wastewater/
• Shevory, Kristina (2010). Gardens That Grow on Walls. New York Times. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/garden/06vertical.html?_r=0
• Svete, Lindsey. (2012). Vegetated Greywater Treatment Walls: Design Modifications
for Intermittent Media Filters (Masters Thesis). Department of Mathematical Sciences
and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
• Uppsala. (2009). An Innovative Way to Treat Wastewater. (Thesis) Uppsala University,
Sweden, Retrieved from
http://susprogramme.wikispaces.com/file/detail/green+wall+thesis+part+2.pdf.