Reduce, reuse, recycle: A Queen’s University Belfast researcher developed a low-cost technique for converting breweries’ leftover barley into renewable fuel.
Beer factories in the EU discard about 3.4 million tons of unspent grain every year. (That’s the weight of 500,000 elephants.)
Using just 1kg of those scraps, Ahmed Osman has been able to create enough activated carbon to spread across 100 soccer fields*.
As described by Osman in the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, the novel approach is actually quite simple:
First, dry the grain. Then execute a two-stage chemical and heat treatment using phosphoric acid and potassium hydroxide wash—”both of which are very low-cost chemical solutions,” he added.
“This then leaves us with activated carbon and carbon nanotubes—high-value materials which are very much in demand,” Osman said in a statement.
The UK typically imports liquid carbon and solid biocarbon from the Middle East, the US, and beyond.
By using this new technique, though, the nation can take advantage of locally produced resources and help reduce emissions, all while creating a high-value product.
“Across the globe there is a real demand for carbon as it is used to create fuel for households, parts for water filters, and charcoal for barbecues,” Osman explained. “If we are able to take something that would otherwise be a waste and turn it into a useful biofuel, it can only be a good thing for our planet. It could really help to solve global waste and energy problems.”
Moving forward, Osman hopes to commercialize his method for use around the world.
* For reference, a full-size soccer pitch is about 120-by-75 yards (larger by international FIFA standards), while a tackle football field is roughly 120-by-55 yards.
More on Geek.com:
- Brewery Turns Recycled Grains and Cocktail Waste Into a Crafty Sour Beer
- A Bakery and a Brewery Turned Surplus Bagels Into Beer
- A Brewery Is Making Beer From Rejected Corn Flakes
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