Do Breweries Have a Zero-Waste Future?

In an attempt to decrease brewery waste and “tap into the power of beer,” German scientist Wolfgang Bengel and his team have designed a system to recycle the waste and use it to fuel the beermaking process, reports Eureka, an intergovernmental initiative supporting European innovation.

For centuries, spent grains from the brew process have been used by European farmers as feed or fertilizer. But a decreased demand for beef and increased restrictions on waste storage have led to a market drop in brewing waste, yielding the question of what to do with the thousands of tons of waste grain at the end of each brewing process.

Developers are marketing the No Waste Brewery to businesses looking to become greener, create their own energy and cut down on waste transportation associated costs. Photo: Eureka.be

Bengel, the technical director at German-based BMP Biomasse Projekt, saw an opportunity to use the spent grain to create steam and biogas, which would, in turn, provide energy for the breweries. To facilitate the process, water would first have to be removed from the grain, dried and then burned to produce energy.

“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,” Bengel told Eureka.

Through a collaboration with fellow German biogas company INNOVAS, as well as German-based engineering company BISANZ, the team managed to refine the process to meet strict European requirements. They were also able to perfect a process for the anaerobic treatment of brewery waste water, producing a complete waste treatment system.

Bengel and team believe the waste brewery plant has potential not just in Germany, but in other international markets as well where demand for beer continues to increase.