ABSTRACT
The products and the essential biological processes and operations involved in the brewing industry have changed relatively little for centuries, although what started as a small-scale craft has become a large modern process industry. All firms in the brewing industry rely on the same basic fermentation process. This uses yeast, a fungus that grows and multiplies when it is supplied with sufficient energy in the form of digestible sugars. The process creates more yeast, along with alcohol, CO2 and heat. The process of economic rationalization has therefore continued, and all three of the companies in the study had been subject to recent corporate restructuring. The brewery operates under a 1989 water pollution licence issued by the city council. It does not have an air pollution licence. Different standards apply to liquid emissions to the adjacent river and to the sewer.
