GERMANY-SLOVAKIA: Energy from beer waste

Making beer is a hot smelly process, as any home brewer will testify. But what is to be done with the steaming left-over grains from a brew? Turn it into energy and biogas of course, say German and Slovakian researchers.

A breakthrough energy project from EU research programme EUREKA is harnessing the power of spent grain from the production of beer to cut costs for brewers around the world. German and Slovakian developers have taken the several thousand tonnes of waste left over from the production of beer and transferred it into renewable steam and biogas, which can then provide energy for the breweries.

EUREKA is an intergovernmental EU initiative that supports research centres, universities and businesses in Europe by funding various research and development programmes, making commercial opportunities out of bright ideas.

The new technology offers a solution to one common problem among the brew-masters of Europe: what to do with the spent grain left over at the end of the brewing process. Traditionally, the waste was sold to farmers, who used it as feed for their animals or fertilizer for their crops.

Nowadays, this practice is not usually feasible because of a reduction in livestock breeding and stricter regulations for the content of waste allowed on land.

Germany-based biomass specialist companies INNOVAS and BMP Biomasses Projekt and German engineering firm BISANZ have joined with Slovakian boiler specialists Adato to create a system that removes water from spent grain, collects the steam and biogas and then purifies it. Afterwards, it would then burn the leftovers, creating heat for the brewing processes.

"Out of 100,000 tonnes of wet spent grain, you have 2,000 tonnes or even less of ashes," said Wolfgang Bengel, BMP Biomasses Projekt technical director. "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% of your own energy costs from the spent grain that's a big saving."

German environmental protection agency TÜV recently certified the systems as meeting national technical standards.