Spendrups brewery is operated with residues from beer – New Technology

A new incinerator allows Spendrups can carry out production in Grängesberg with the help of bryggrester – and cut 24 million in oil costs per year.

the Spendrups brewery in Grängesberg have a brand new, purpose-built facility to burn the dregs, a waste product from the ölbryggningen.

the Brewery produces annually 30 000 tons of dregs, which were previously sold on as animal feed for animals and biofuels. But by themselves to keep draven and convert it to biofuel beats the old two birds with one stone – it will become the production is significantly cheaper, it will become the brewery is largely self-sufficient in renewable energy.

The new facility – delivered by the gothenburg-based Petrobio and the Danish company Haarslev industries – makes it possible to ångtorka, pelletera, store and then grind draven into a powder to burn. The combustion creates steam which is used to power the brewery.

– It enables the long term, we will be able to cover half of the annual energy needs with biofuels that we produce ourselves. The rest of the energy we get from electricity, wood pellets and a bit of biogas, ” says Claes Åkesson, the environment and sustainability manager at Spendrups.

the Initiative also means that the brewery can reduce our oil consumption by 3.5 million per year, which is expected to reduce costs by 24 million and reduce CO₂emissions by 10 000 tonnes per year.

Read more: Best tips to brew good beer

the Plant was opened in the beginning of 2015. According to plans, will be able to generate approximately 30 GWh per year at full power. But, due to various operational problems could pan only deliver about 70 per cent of it in the last year.

” We have had intrimningsproblem in all parts of the process. It is a great process to build a facility of this size, so it is clear that it will pop up obstacles, ” says Hans Lindgren, a project manager with responsibility for the construction of the plant.

A major problem that Spendrups contend with is the formation of coatings in the system and the parts that heats up the feed water using the flue gases from the boiler. The effect will be high operating costs and low efficiency in the boiler.

After several months we could observe that the problem was due to an imbalance between negative and positive ions in the fuel. Right now, we make a long-term test where we put a additive in the fuel to get to the balance between the negative and positive ions.

When do you expect to be able to run the plant at full power?

” We are cautiously positive after testing with the additivet in a number of weeks. We are working continuously to solve the problems that have arisen since the start and see the light in the tunnel. Full operation will be reached sometime in the next year. Then we will continue to evaluate the measures we have taken, ” says Lindgren.

Energy-rich waste product

Dregs is a wet waste product formed during beer brewing.

Spendrups produces 160 million gallons each year, generating 30 000 tonnes of dregs.

Spendrups förbränningssystem for the dregs is the first in Sweden. The plant can take up to 9.2 tonnes våtdrav in an hour.

The ångtorkas to pellets in a 100-point process and is then stored in silos. The pellets are ground to a powder that is burned in the 900 degree heat with a 20% biogasiblandning.