PurposeEnergy turns waste into reusable water

Making his way home to spend Easter with his wife and their triplets in Arlington, PurposeEnergy, Inc. founder and CEO Eric Fitch was a happy man. Earlier in the day, he lit a celebratory cigar on the first flare of the Tribrid-Bioreactor™ his company installed at Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware. It was the first day the system, which reclaims wastewater and generates renewable power and fertilizer, had produced enough biogas to create a flame.

The Tribrid-Bioreactor™ is PurposeEnergy’s patented anaerobic digester, which uses microorganisms to break down the byproducts of the brewing process and create renewable natural gas, treated water, and organic fertilizer.

PurposeEnergy partnered with GE (NYSE: GE) on the Dogfish Head plant, which is twice the size of the Tribrid-Bioreactor™ it placed at Magic Hat Brewing Company in Burlington, Vermont in 2008.

The installation at Magic Hat holds 460,000 gallons of waste and can produce 100 cubic feet of gas per minute. By contrast, Dogfish Head’s Tribrid-Bioreactor™ holds 1.3 million gallons of waste and can produce 200 cubic feet of gas per minute.

Dogfish Head produced 232,000 barrels of beer last year and is one of the fastest growing breweries in the country. With this new system, it will reclaim 80 percent of its wastewater for use as process water, making it the lowest water-consuming brewery in the world by volume, according to Fitch.

PurposeEnergy started in 2007 in the “dungeon” of Fitch’s home. As the business grew and Fitch’s family expanded, a home office was no longer an option. Like many startups, PurposeEnergy worked in collaborative working spaces, including Greentown Labs in Somerville, but when the Dogfish Head project required privacy, Fitch began looking for a more traditional office convenient to his Arlington home and Boston.

“We looked everywhere, and when we saw West Cummings Park, we knew it was the place,” said Fitch.

PurposeEnergy opened its company headquarters at 800 West Cummings Park last year.

“We are thrilled for Eric and his team that the Dogfish project has launched, and we look forward to watching their continued success as they bring their clean water and energy process to other food and beverage companies,” said Cummings Properties account manager Eric Lawless.

PurposeEnergy helps companies reduce costs and environmental impact by replacing existing methods of byproduct management. This eliminates waste trucking fees, avoids wastewater surcharges, lowers energy bills, decreases greenhouse gas emissions, reduces process water consumption, and allows reuse of wastewater.

Visit their YouTube page to learn more about the Dogfish Head Tribrid-Bioreactor™.

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