Michal Simhon and Helen Chan inspect the newly built pretreatment facility
The Molson Coors Brewery in Vancouver is relocating to Chilliwack, BC, about 100 kilometres east of Vancouver. To accommodate the new business, the City of Chilliwack and Molson reached an agreement to construct a High-Strength Wastewater Pretreatment Facility for brewery wastewater at the city’s existing Municipal Wastewater Treatment Facility. The new $19.2 million pretreatment facility will treat the brewery wastewater, up to 2,210 cubic metres per day, before discharging the pretreated wastewater to the city’s municipal wastewater treatment facility.
The City of Chilliwack retained Associated Engineering to provide project management, design, and construction services for the pretreatment facility and the Kerr Street Pump Station and Forcemain, which will convey wastewater from the brewery to the new pretreatment facility.
Plant3D was used to advance design
The facility’s process comprises screening, pH control, nutrient supplement, anaerobic treatment, process heating, and aerated sulphide oxidation. One of the main benefits of anaerobic treatment is the opportunity to recover biogas. The recovered biogas is used to fuel a direct-heat combustion unit that provides trim heat for the pre-treatment process.
“We used a direct-heat combustion unit to heat the wastewater using a burner fed with biogas, natural gas, or a blend. This system eliminates the need for a biogas scrubber, boiler, boiler heat exchanger, and hot water heating circuit. It also offers capital and operation and maintenance cost savings, is easier to use, and has a smaller physical footprint.” - Deputy Project Manager and Project Engineer, Michal Simhon
Associated’s scope for the facility included site grading, slab design, equipment building (structural, mechanical, electrical, and controls), and tie-in and system integration with the municipal facility (including flare system, odour control, and utilities).
“Commissioning of the facility is contingent on the commissioning of the new Molson Coors Brewery. We had a tight schedule for design and construction, and the equipment had a long lead time for delivery. Therefore, we recommended that the City employ a Construction Management approach. - Project Manager, Helen Chan
PCL Contractors Westcoast was selected as the Construction Manager.
Since commissioning of the new Molson Coors Brewery was postponed until the summer of 2019, the facility was commissioned with clean water and operated on a winterization loop to exercise the equipment. With the successful commissioning of the Molson Coors Brewery, the facility can be commissioned with wastewater.