Circular Water at Rotterdam’s Newest Brewery

Using waste water and residual heat as energy, Rainmaker is transforming the waste water of the “Stadshaven brouwerij” brewery in Rotterdam into fresh water, ready to be used again in the beer production process.

Producing 2 million litres of beer every year produces quite some waste water, but Rainmaker and Stadshaven brouwerij have partnered to create a circular water management system. The wastewater of the brewery will be transformed into fresh water, using the residual heat of the brewery as thermal energy. The output is fresh, clean water, ready to be used again in the beer production process.

The trial will run from July 2021 onwards in the brand new brewery, that is the 2nd largest craft brewery of the Netherlands. Rainmaker, another Rotterdam based company and a portfolio company of Icos Capital, offers sustainable decentralised solutions for fresh drinking water, primarily producing water from air, sea water, brackish water or wastewater. They will provide a Water 2 Water system, fit with their patented technology to the brewery. “It’s a very exciting partnership for us as we wanted to incorporate circular economy design into our beer production process. We look forward to sharing some delicious beer, along with this sustainability story with our customers and community.”said Harm van Deuren of Stadshaven Brewery.

Joost Oosterling of Rainmaker Holland also notes the potential for such circular design projects: “This collaboration is an important step forward in the fight against water shortage for Rainmaker. This circular design project to recover and reuse water is a great example of this, and something that’s already attracting international attention”. Recently, AB Inbev has also shown interest in setting up a pilot project in their brewery in Leuven, Belgium.

The new brewery by Stadshaven brouwerij opened July 1 and offers a gastropub style venue, producing beer on location. It’s expected that the partnership will attract beer lovers and circular economy enthusiasts to the new brewery in Rotterdam’s New Mathenesse neighbourhood