Energy Start-up Works With Brewer to Produce Ethanol From Discarded Beer Yeast

Energy Start-up Works With Brewer to Produce Ethanol From Discarded Beer Yeast

We've heard of ethanol being made from swamp muck, garbage and even grubs, but until today we'd not heard of anyone making ethanol from beer-brewing waste.

Yet that's exactly what E-Fuel Corp. and the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. intend to do. The companies have agreed to house small E-Fuel-made MicroFuelers at the Chico, California, brewery. The MicroFuelers will enable Sierra Nevada to make E100 (100 percent ethanol) using waste from its brewing process.

Testing is scheduled to begin the second quarter of this year with a goal of achieving full-scale ethanol production in the third quarter.

Sierra Nevada sells 1.6 million gallons of unusable bottom-of-the-barrel beer yeast waste each year to farmers, who then feed it to dairy cows.

The waste contains 5-8 percent alcohol and enough yeast and nutrients to enable a MicroFueler to raise the alcohol content to 15 percent. The MicroFueler can then remove water from the waste to produce high-quality ethanol.

According to E-Fuel of Los Gatos, California, their EFuel100 MicroFueler (pictured) is the world's first portable ethanol micro-refinery system and can create up to 70 gallons of ethanol each week using an alcohol feedstock.

The MicroFueler has a suggested retail price of $9,995, but can cost as little as $6,998 after federal tax credits are applied.

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.