Heineken Is Using Leftover Beer From The Pandemic To Power Its Brewing Gear
Image via monticello / Shutterstock.com
As pubs and restaurants remain closed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic—the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) predicts that around 87 million pints will have been thrown away as a result—Heineken has found a way to turn surplus beer into energy for in its Manchester brewery.
For the first time, the machine that fills beer kegs destined for pubs has been put into reverse – it is being used to empty thousands of kegs instead. This beer is then turned into green energy to power brewing kettles and canning pasteurizers.
The beer is drip-fed into the onsite wastewater treatment plant and placed into an anaerobic digester that helps convert the beer into biogas, which is captured to produce this renewable and sustainable energy.
Using a combined heat and power unit (CHP) found inside a shipping container, the biogas is converted into heat and electricity. According to Heineken, it has converted approximately 83,210 50-liter kegs into energy since May 2020. This is equivalent to producing energy to heat around 28,000 average UK homes for a day.
“Our team of engineers and brewers at Manchester found a solution – using our kegging line to empty beer barrels and turning the beer that would have gone to waste into green energy to power the brewing of fresh beer, all ready for when the pubs re-open,” Matt Callan, brewery and operations Director at Heineken said.
[via Heineken, cover image via monticello / Shutterstock.com]
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