Monitoring COD in Brewery Wastewater
As thee brewery industry continues to show significant growth, its unique challenges in wastewater management demand attention. Brewery wastewater is generated in large volumes, making COD a critical parameter for monitoring treatment performance. In particular, high levels of sugars, alcohols, solids, and variable pH levels can overwhelm municipal wastewater treatment facilities in smaller communities. If left unmanaged, breweries risk regulatory non-compliance and costly surcharges. into wastewater fluctuations, which allows breweries to make faster decisions with an optimized process.
To mitigate these risks, breweries are continuously seeking advanced monitoring and treatment solutions that allow them to better understand, manage, and reduce their wastewater impact.
Importance of COD Monitoring in Wastewater
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is a widely used indicator of organic content in wastewater, quantifying the total amount of oxygen needed to oxidize organic compounds. Traditional COD testing relies on strong oxidizing chemicals like dichromate, a toxic, carcinogenic compound that poses severe health, safety and environmental risks. In contrast, real-time COD monitoring provides immediate insight into wastewater fluctuations, which allows breweries to make faster decisions with an optimized process.
Real-time COD Analysis with PeCOD – Heineken Brewery Spain
The PeCOD has proven to be a valuable asset in accessing organic loading in brewery wastewater and offers an environmentally safe and green alternative to the traditional COD testing method. Using photoelectrochemical oxidation, the PeCOD delivers real-time COD results without the use of hazardous chemicals.
Most recently, Heineken Brewery in Spain has integrated Mantech’s PeCOD analyzer into its wastewater treatment process to enhance monitoring efficiency and process control. Performance data from this application demonstrates a strong correlation between dichromate COD results and photoelectrochemical Chemical Oxygen Demand (PeCOD) results as illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3 below.
Figure 1 shows a linear regression of PeCOD Analyzer results vs COD by Dichromate results for all sample types. There is a strong correlation of R²=0.99
Figure 2 shows a linear regression of PeCOD Analyzer results vs COD by Dichromate results for influent sample types. There is a strong correlation of R²=0.98
Figure 3 shows a linear regression of PeCOD Analyzer results vs COD by Dichromate results for effluent sample types. There is a strong correlation of R²=0.98
Operational and Regulatory Benefits
In many cases, the industrial wastewater regulatory discharge limit is set at 300mg/L. The ability to predict COD from PeCOD derived COD is a convenient tool to:
- Precisely monitor organic load
- Optimize brewery processes
- Prevent unnecessary surcharges
- Reduce overall water consumption and energy
With industrial wastewater discharge limits varying by location, breweries must carefully monitor organic loading. As a result, the PeCOD is now an integral part of the Heineken Brewery.
3/2/2026