Waste from breweries and milk factories could be put to good use in fighting climate change, according to scientists at Green Fuels Research.
Brewers could help in the bid for Britain to achieve net zero carbon emissions
The Gloucestershire-based company has won funding under the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy’s Biomass Feedstocks Innovation Programme for its Microalgae Biomass Sustainability project (MISTY). The project aims to boost yields from algae farming in the UK by co-culturing microalgae with bacteria, using waste water from the brewing and dairy industries.
The key innovation lies in cultivating microalgal strains in conditions adapted to the UK’s weather by
using two bioreactor systems — one taking advantage of natural sunlight during spring and summer,
and the second using organic compounds present in dairy and brewery waste water as carbon sources in winter.
MISTY will enable breweries and the dairy sector to dispose of zero-value, environmentally harmful waste streams while sustainably industrialising a high-value bioenergy resource, decarbonising their value chains and combating climate change.
Green Fuels chief strategy officer, Paul Hilditch, said: “Importantly, the MISTY process doesn’t use drinking-quality water or compete for land with food production, while promising to increase the UK’s strategic biomass supply.” Equally important, by promoting carbon capture, MISTY aligns itself with the Green Industrial Revolution and accelerates the UK’s path to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Green Fuels is working with Wadworth & Co, the independent regional family brewer and pub company, operating in excess of 150 pubs, having brewed beer in the market town of Devizes since 1875. Now in the fifth generation of ownership by the Bartholomew family, Wadworth is supporting MISTY under the Biomass Feedstocks Innovation Programme.
“We see this research as potentially beneficial in the longer term, with the hope an industrial application would potentially bring innovative and or alternative low-cost waste water treatment solutions to smaller breweries, whilst helping to combat climate change,” said a spokesperson for Wadworth.
Green Fuels is a pioneer in renewable fuels. Founded in 2003, it has supplied biofuel equipment with aggregate capacity equating to $500bn in fuel sales to customers in more than 80 countries. Identifying aviation and marine as strategic fuel markets of the future, Green Fuels Research was established in 2014 to develop intellectual property in these areas. The group has attracted £12m in direct and indirect research grant funding to date, with research and development facilities in Berkeley, Gloucestershire.
