Coors Brews Up Clean-Burning Fuel From Waste Beer
Published Apr 16, 2005
Coors Brewery in Golden
Next time you sip a cold Coors, take a moment to toast the positive environmental effects of ethanol.
Ethanol (C²H5OH), the intoxicating agent in liquor, is produced during fermentation. This colorless, volatile liquid can be separated and added to gasoline to lessen its environmental impact, or used alone as a clean-burning automotive fuel.
Golden-based Coors is one of only a few breweries in the United States that has chosen not to let the ethanol in their excess beer go to waste. Through a contractual relationship with Merrick & Company, an engineering firm headquartered in Aurora, Coors collects its waste beer and funnels it to a specially designed facility where Merrick strips the ethanol from the beer, converting it into a usable form.
The arrangement has been so successful, the companies are doubling the plant’s capacity so they are able to produce 3 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year.
That’s good news for everyone who breathes in Jefferson County. “Ethanol contains an oxygen atom,” explains Steve Wagner, Vice President for Merrick. “If you put an oxygen compound, like ethanol, in gasoline it reduces carbon monoxide emissions [that result] from the combustion process.”
Ethanol has been a required gasoline additive since the Clean Air Act of 1990. In most parts of the country, standard gasoline is approximately 10 percent ethanol, although ethanol can be used in higher proportions. The more ethanol a fuel contains, the cleaner it burns. When used as fuel, ethanol produces environmentally benign emissions, while traditional gasoline produces toxic carbon monoxide emissions. Ethanol-blended gasoline emits less carbon monoxide, which lessens the negative environmental effect.
Some gas stations in Colorado are already offering E85, which consists of 85 percent ethanol, and approximately four million vehicles in the United States are capable of running on this alternative fuel. In fact, most of the ethanol produced through the Coors-Merrick partnership goes directly into gasoline sold at Diamond Shamrock stations right here on the Front Range.
“Ethanol closes the CO² cycle,” says Wagner, adding that it represents not only environmental responsibility, but also good business sense. “There is a viable market for ethanol as fuel, and it reduces the [company’s] disposal cost, so it’s a resource-recovery and waste-recycling benefit.
“This ethanol plant is possible because Coors-Golden is the largest brewery in the world,” Wagner explains. “They brew most of their beer here in one location, producing around 20 million barrels per year.”
Story by Carly L. Price
Photo by Antony Boshier
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