Beer Residues Make for Alternative Fuel Resources

Beer is, undoubtedly, one of the most popular beverages in the world, and, as such, it is produced in vast amounts around the globe, from the largest metropolises to the smallest villages. And, in all breweries, the same process is followed, resulting in roughly the same byproducts. Now, a joint study by researchers in Germany and Poland, backed by Eureka, has demonstrated that grain wastes that come out of these factories can successfully be used as an alternative fuel. This find could help with easing some of the burden associated with electricity production from fossil fuel-powered electrical plants.

The man that made it all possible is the Technical Director at German biomass company BMP Biomasse Projekt, Wolfgang Bengel, who first saw a business opportunity in the leftovers created by breweries. In China and Thailand, the expert has already demonstrated that rice and sugar cane residues, treated with atmospheric fluidized bed combustion systems inside boilers, can result in cheap electricity. The innovation also offsets some of the costs associated with those of transporting grain to farms, and also makes electrical current a cheaper commodity.

“Beer making is energy intensive – you boil stuff, use hot water and steam and then use electric energy for cooling – so if you recover more than 50 percent of your own energy costs from the spent grain that's a big saving,” he explains. After the success he achieved in Asia, Bengel has now turned his attention to wet grain residues, generated by European and American factories. He argues that, by removing the water out of them, and then burning them, electrical energy could be obtained as well, and at high standards at that.

“Out of 100,000 tonnes of wet spent grain, you have 2,000 tonnes or even less of ashes,” Bengel adds. In their tests in Europe, he and other researchers had to start from scratch on several occasions, as draconian laws prevented them from emitting a certain amount of ashes into the atmosphere. As a result, the experts had to refine the process until less than a fifth of the used material was transformed into carbon dioxide.