Sustainability And Beer / Sustainable Brewing

Session Chair:
Jan Niewodniczanski (Managing Director Bitburger Braugruppe, DE)

Decarbonized operation – Brewing technologies for minimal energy requirement
By David De Schutter et al., AB-Inbev
Brewers around the world are decarbonizing their operations. The brewhouse, as main consumer of thermal energy, presents a big opportunity to reduce scope I and II carbon emissions. Optimizing mashing and boiling ensures most energy-efficient processing at high quality. Industrial application of very high gravity brewing and the ABI Simmer & Strip (S&S) technology prove that all lager and ale profiles, including premium, can be achieved while reducing heat load and increasing flavor stability. This study shows that management of real degree of fermentation and improved performance on boiling markers are consistently achieved. Ensuring the consistency of the quality parameters, liquor-to-grist-ratios at or below 2-to-1, and wort gravities of above 20°P are already industrially applied. Additionally, S&S technology reduces evaporation rates down to as low as 1%. The boiling markers as key indicators for optimal stripping with minimal heat load, together with the unaffected sugar profile, prove the benefits for brewing most environmentally friendly while keeping the same flavor profile. The energy savings, depending on the brewhouse setup, amount to 10-20% of the total brewing process.

Stripping-gas free Deaeration of Water by Cold Steam Vapor – a revolutionary Degassing Technology
By Stefan Meyering et al., Corosys
Water deaeration has become more and more important in recent years: Brewers and beverage producers value product quality and low oxygen levels. At the same time, the industry is facing the challenges of climate change and a CO2 market that has become unpredictable. Conventional degassing utilizes carbon dioxide as a strip gas and is increasingly becoming a problem when it comes to environmental demands and CO2 pricing. This talk will show that degassing no longer necessarily requires an externally supplied strip gas and how this EU-patented technology works.

Design of a novel structure for a regenerable-aid beer filtration
By Nicolas Declercq and Sonia Collin, UC Louvain
The current generations of regenerable-aid filtration make it possible to obtain a filtrate whose quality meets the requirements of the brewers. However the length of the filtration cycles coupled with the delicate regeneration of the regenerable-aid does not allow this technology to be sufficiently attractive. This new technology will only be successful if it guarantees the quality, optimizes the cost/hl and contributes to reduce the environmental footprint. Several forms of particles have already been considered: spheres, fibers, angular particles as well as several materials: polyolefins, polyamides, polystyrene, coated silica…The present innovation has to be considered as the implementation of an original design in the form of an asymmetrical heterogeneous bulb particle. This specific three-dimensional structure in incompressible crystalline material will lead to longer cycle times. Thanks to his specific design the regeneration of the adjuvant may be done by alternating turbulent and laminar flow and by successive steps of solubilization and sterilization. There will be no use of caustic soda, which allows to guarantee an optimal integrity of the adjuvant in time.

Session Chair: 
Tiago Brandão (Innovation & R&D Director Superbock Group, PT)

The effect of barley malt protein on hop bitter acid utilization
By Mariana Barreto Carvalhal Pinto et al., TU Berlin
Binding to protein and subsequent precipitation can lead to a reduced hop bitter acid utilization during wort boiling. This study aimed to identify specific malt protein fractions which show strong binding affinity towards hop bitter acids. Therefore, experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of hop addition on wort protein profile and vice versa, the influence of malt proteins on hop bitter acid content. Hop bitter acids were measured by HPLC, and proteins were quantified and identified by SDS-Page gel electrophoresis followed by LC-MS/MS. Nitrogen content in wort was reduced after boiling in both experiments due to protein precipitation as trub and a negative correlation was found between iso-α-acids and protein content. The protein profile was altered with respect to certain protein fractions in all trials indicating a clear interaction of specific proteins with hop bitter acids. Hence, this study highlights the impact of malt protein composition on the process efficiency, offering breweries higher process control and higher iso-α-acid utilization, e.g. through barley variety selection.

Are small starch granules from barley malt ruining the benefits of high gravity brewing?
By Charlotte F. De Schepper and Christophe M. Courtin, KU Leuven
Breweries use high gravity brewing to improve brewhouse efficiency. However, we believe that the large proportions of small starch granules in barley malt ruin part of this benefit, upsetting the fine balance between starch gelatinization and inactivation of starch-hydrolyzing enzymes during mashing. In this work, the impact of mash thickness on the gelatinization of small and large starch granules was assessed. Thicker mashes resulted in less efficient sugar production, which opposes literature data. We hypothesized that this is due to delayed gelatinization of the small starch granules during mashing, caused by wort components such as sugars. The addition of 24°P wort indeed resulted in a 10°C increase in the starch gelatinization temperature. In the case of small starch granules, this resulted in a peak gelatinisation temperature of 72.5°C. This is problematic, considering that malt β-amylase, producing maltose, is thermally inactivated rapidly at this temperature. In view of these results, the small starch granule proportion in brewing barley and malt should be considered as a selection criterium.

Current research results on the reorientation of European hop cultivation against the background of climatic and political change as well as sustainability requirements
By Walter König, Gesellschaft für Hopfenforschung
Hops is not only one of the oldest medicinal plants, but also an indispensable raw material for beer production. It is often referred to as the “soul of beer”. The international cultivation of hops grown on around 60,000 hectares, with a focus on Europe and the US, is currently facing enormous challenges as a small special culture. Above all, climate change and the increased protection of environmental resources are forcing discussion on the reorientation of hop growing for the future.  Main points are the introduction of new research results in methods for more efficient, adequate irrigation and fertilization. Another key issue is the necessary reorientation of pest and disease control as well as a significant intensification of breeding and research to achieve these objectives. Best practices from organic hop production can be transferred, even partially automated, to conventional production. However, new, climate tolerant and disease resistant varieties must also find their way into brewers’ recipes to ensure that the reorientation of hop production is successful and that the sustainable supply of residue-free hops remains guaranteed.

Session Chair: 
Larry Nelson, Founder, Advantage Publishing Ltd

Sustainability in maltings: A Zero Emission Malthouse
By Martijn Van Iersel and Edwin Evers, Holland Malt
As sustainability is a growing topic is in the beer-value chain, Holland Malt initiated a unique project to diminish its CO2-footprint and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions. The project focusses on two main goals: 1) reduce the energy usage in a modern, state-of-the-art maltings with more than 50%. 2) build a maltings with zero CO2-footprint for production and zero GHG emissions. The goals for this project will be reached by a new way of energy reuse which will make it possible to increase the re-usage of the energy in the outgoing airflow. This energy recycling step is introduced without any implications for the malting process itself. In addition to that we will introduce a complete electrification of the malting plant, and a process in which guaranteed EU wind and solar energy will be used to supply the maltings. As we speak the constructions have started for the Eemshaven malting plant, constructions that will continue into 2023. When finalized early 2024, Eemshaven malting plant will produce malt with a CO2-footprint of zero, and without any GHG emissions. In this presentation we will present you with details of this newly developed process.

Efficient valorization of Breweries Spent Grains BSG for polyphenols, proteins and dietary fibers
By Thomas Wünsche, Andritz Austria
Since decades brewers and distillers are striving for solutions of better utilization of spent grains. From the use as wet and dried animal feed, over combustion solutions with upfront dewatering and extract recovery from press waters, up to biomass fermentation, all processes did not fully reflect the natural value of the inherent valuable resource base of spent grains: Polyphenols, proteins and health beneficial trace elements in the dietary fibers. Same moment there is a rapidly increased demand for alternative protein resources due to the growth of the global population by 2 Billion over the next 30 years. The price for plant-based proteins and other ingredients has double over the past 10 years. The abstracted presentation sketches an innovative valorization process based on a hydrodynamic, continuous extraction process based on cavitation, which pulls with a high efficiency enriched polyphenol powder, valuable proteins and dietary fibers rich in Arabinoxylan (AX). It touches further advantages of converting fast spoiling spent grains into storable liquid extract, taking them from the critical path of beer production, before they are evaporated to paste or dried to powder.

Starch and starch is not the same – how climate change affects malting barley
By Martina Gastl et al., TUM WZW
In the past decades, malting barley breeding has focused on maximising the starch content or the extract available from it, reaching now quantitatively at the upper limit. As a consequence of climate change, barley malt quality is often affected by anomalies in barley starch structure (obvious effect especially during heat and drought stress/harvest 2017-2019), which remains a major challenge for resistance and quality breeding. To gain a better understanding of the influence of drought stress on the starch synthesis and resulting structure, barley starches of different genotypes and locations are investigated using various analytical parameter like gelatinisation temperature AM/AP ratio, A/B granule distribution, crystallinity of the starch as well as molecular mass distribution of the dextrins (A4F).Despite technological adjustments, breweries are confronted with strong quality issues such as long or incomplete saccharification time, yield losses, insufficient fermentation degrees up to prolonged filtration procedures or turbidity in the beer caused by insufficient enzymatic and physical starch degradation.(supported by Projektverbund BayKlimaFit 2 – TEW01C02P-77738)

Demonstration project to generate carbon-neutral electricity from brewery’s wastewater by means of a 200kW fuel cell
By Kimito Kawamura and Tomomasa Kanda, Asahi Japan
It is presumed that all brewing companies are looking for technologies to reduce CO2 emissions in order to comply with the Paris Agreement. The research and development division of Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. (later known as Asahi Quality and Innovations, ltd. (AQI) began developing power generation technology using byproduct methane gas from anaerobic wastewater treatment process at breweries, as a fuel cell in 2016. Many attempts have been made, but they have failed due to the poisonous substances.  With this system, AQI succeeded in generating continuous power from fuel cells for 10,000 hours at the laboratory level in 2019. Based on this result, a new 200kW fuel cell power generation demonstration system was developed and installed at the Ibaraki brewery of Asahi Breweries ltd. with the support of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan and succeeded in generating 200kW of continuous power. In this presentation, we would like to report the contents of this technology we have developed in the hope that it will be of some help to those involved in the beer business in Europe, including our brother company Asahi Breweries Europe ltd. in reducing CO2 emissions.

Moderator:
Jack Buffington, First Key

Speakers:
Erik Novaes, AB InBev
Nigel Davies, First Key Consulting
Martijn Van Iersel, Holland Malt
Preeti Srivastav, Asahi

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is certainly appreciated by most beer drinkers and brewers when it’s in beer as a fermentation by-product. However, reducing CO2 emission across all industrialized sector has become a world ambition to limit climate change and mitigate its impact. The brewing sector is also making its share of efforts to contribute, from the ingredients down to the distribution chain. Join our speakers who will share their views, experience and advice and will hopefully motivate you to step up towards carbon-zero brewing!