The Castle Rock Brewery Trial
Summary
Pipeline Organics helps breweries turn high-strength wastewater from a treatment burden into a source of clean power, lower effluent costs and operational resilience.
The Castle Rock Brewery demonstration is our key founding-partner trial: a live brewery collaboration designed to move the technology from early feasibility learning into a clearer deployment pathway. Using fresh Castle Rock wastewater in a compact four-reactor microbial fuel cell rig, the trial will validate on-site power generation, stacked-cell performance, system stability, flow behaviour and follow-on COD reduction, while operating independently from the brewery’s existing infrastructure. The results will inform the next generation of modular brewery systems and support the route toward larger paid deployments that reduce wastewater treatment costs and recover useful energy from brewery effluent.
The anticipated savings are dramatic and backed by early onsite proof – and this is before discussions around using additional fuel cells as “energy farms” that intentionally pool additional waste to be converted into power!
60% organic pollutants (COD) reduction onsite at present
35% of electrical power density required by site
Anticipated 45-75% electricity savings at scale, depending on energy tariffs and site usage
Anticipated 50-75% water treatment bill savings at scale, assuming 85% COD reduction by time of full deployment
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Microbial Fuel Cell Trial: Castle Rock Brewery, Nottingham
Pipeline Organics is preparing an on-site microbial fuel cell demonstration with Castle Rock Brewery in Nottingham to test real brewery wastewater as a feedstock for clean power generation and future wastewater treatment application. This trial is a primary part of the series of collaborative trials for product development and industrial optimisation.
The trial will use Pipeline Organics’ compact four-reactor microbial fuel cell system. The system will operate independently from the brewery’s existing infrastructure and will not be permanently connected to Castle Rock Brewery’s wastewater treatment system.
Trial purpose
The Castle Rock Brewery trial is designed to validate how Pipeline Organics’ microbial fuel cell technology performs with fresh brewery wastewater under real site conditions.
Trial focus
The Castle Rock Brewery trial will focus on:
- Wastewater compatibility: testing whether fresh Castle Rock Brewery wastewater can support microbial fuel cell operation.
- On-site power generation: measuring voltage, current, and power output from the four-reactor microbial fuel cell system.
- Fuel cell stacking performance: comparing a single fuel cell with the four-cell stack to assess improvements in voltage and power output.
- COD reduction: continuing follow-on testing after the site visit to assess COD reduction under controlled laboratory conditions.
Trial setup
The demonstration will use a four-reactor MFC test rig with approximately 2 litres of collected brewery wastewater from Castle Rock Brewery processes. The on-site demonstration is planned as a short continuous-flow trial during brewery operating hours, followed by longer laboratory testing. The on-site trial will focus on power generation, fuel cell operation, system stability, and practical deployment learning. COD reduction will be measured after the site visit under controlled laboratory conditions.
What will be measured
Pipeline Organics will collect technical and operational data from the system, including:
- Individual fuel cell voltage, current, and power
- Total four-cell stack voltage, current, and power
- Single-cell versus four-cell stack performance
- Flow behaviour and leakproof operation
- pH and temperature
- Follow-on COD reduction in the laboratory
The planned technical targets include demonstrating approximately 0.3 V total system voltage and 30 µW power output from the four-reactor system, alongside evidence that stacking multiple fuel cells improves electrical performance.
Why these matters
Brewery wastewater contains biodegradable organic material that is currently treated as a waste stream. Pipeline Organics is developing microbial fuel cell systems that can help convert this organic load into clean electrical energy while supporting wastewater treatment. The Castle Rock Brewery trial will provide site-specific data from a working brewery environment. It will help Pipeline Organics understand how the technology responds to different brewery wastewater characteristics, how the system performs during on-site operation, and what design improvements are needed for future modular deployments.
Expected outcome
The trial is expected to generate practical evidence for the next stage of Pipeline Organics’ scale-up roadmap, including:
- Validation of Castle Rock Brewery wastewater compatibility
- On-site power generation data from a four-reactor MFC system
- Comparison between single-cell and stacked-cell performance
- Laboratory COD reduction data
- Deployment learnings for future brewery and food-and-beverage sites
This trial is a key step toward Pipeline Organics’ mission to help industrial sites turn wastewater from a treatment cost into a source of clean energy and operational value.