Under the name of Stichococcus SSL1 hides the key that has led Cátedra Beer, a small Murcian brewery, to place itself on the map of sustainability.
The unpronounceable name is not a yeast strain, a new machine, or the latest fad style.
It is something as
ancient and primitive
as a microalgae.
This small microorganism, present in the fresh water of ponds and ponds, is responsible for the fact that the factory of
Eduardo Cano
, Brewmaster of the Chair and Bachelor of Business Administration and Management, has become a circular economy company in which nothing is wasted.
Not even all the CO2 that the beer-making process generates.
"We convert all the emissions into oxygen through this microalgae", explains Cano.
And a factory of this drink generates a lot of CO2.
Most of it during
fermentation
, but also during
bottling
and when a cane is served from a bar tap, which is propelled into the glass by this gas.
Under the name of
Cátedra Biofilter,
Cano and Manuel Rubio, his partner and Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, have developed a photobioreactor with tubes that, with a showy green color, run along a wall next to the beer fermenters and in which they 'live' those microalgae.
Stichococcus microalgae concentration Chair
These microorganisms are supplied with CO2 as they need it.
"We are accumulating the gas and feeding the microalgae on demand," he explains.
At no time does the liquid come into contact with the beer.
A computer system, developed by
Antonio Ruiz
, is in charge of analyzing various parameters and 'serving' the gas to the microalgae so that they do not fill up and die of a gas 'binge'.
As they consume CO2, they transform it into oxygen, eliminating the emissions of this harmful gas into the atmosphere.
In addition, they are reproduced, which transform them not only in part of the process, they also become biomass that is later sold to other companies.
"Every week we remove half of the microalgae and sell them to a fish company in the area as food," Cano explains.
This sale helps Cátedra to
recover the initial investment
.
An aware sector
The reuse of waste in the beer sector is not new.
Cano himself, and most of the breweries,
reuse a part of the CO2 generated to carbonate the drinks
.
It is common practice for almost everyone to transform wet cereal, known as bagasse, into livestock feed.
However, it is the first time that a brewery has reduced its CO2 emissions to zero using this system.
Cano, however, takes away the credit.
"We have imitated nature and turned waste into raw material," he
says.
The use of microalgae in various industries is not new either.
"This technology is widely studied and is used in the manufacture of cement or in hydroelectric plants", Cano lists.
"We have only
adapted it
to brewing beer," he sums up.
The spark to create this system was ignited when he saw how "the yeast 'blew' CO2 for several days in a row, 24 hours".
"You had to do something," recalls Cano, who always believed that
making beer is not just doing things
: "You have to think about the waste that is generated and do something with it before throwing it away or emitting it into the atmosphere."
Eduardo Cano the Cátedra factory, with the fermenters and the biofilter.
Cano and Rubio thought that microalgae were perfect for removing this residue.
"Almost any microalgae would be valid for this task," explains Manuel Rubio to SOSTENIBLES, but the Stichococcus, present in the southeast of the Peninsula and donated to the brewery by the Professor in Botany of the University of Murcia and expert in microalgae,
Marina Aboal
, "it is very resistant to variations", which makes it very easy to maintain.
"We didn't want a very complex system," adds Rubio.
Biofilter Chair has been working at full capacity since the beginning of 2020.
Its factory, with a maximum production capacity of 50,000 liters of its award-winning Kölsch-type beer, would be able to eliminate up to 1.2 tons of CO2 per year thanks to this microalgae.
The system has earned Cátedra several awards, including one for innovation at the Barcelona Beer Festival and a second prize at the European Environmental Awards in the "Process for sustainable development" category.
Cano downplays it
: "The awards give you visibility," he assures, but the important thing "is to protect the environment together."
Revolution for small and large
This way of eliminating CO2 is, according to Cano and Rubio,
completely "scalable"
to any other factory, regardless of size.
It simply "would have to make a larger photobioreactor" depending on the volume of production of the company.
The economic investment, according to Rubio, is "small", and any company that wanted to install it would recover it "very quickly."
The most expensive thing has been to come up with the idea and put it into operation, for which they spent almost a year working on the prototype and the first versions until the system was 100% operational.
Cátedra's microalgae are also used to feed the fish in this store.
They are currently in talks with a company to try to standardize the product and offer that scalability to
a system that can represent a revolution
, not only in the way of making beer, but also in the company's own conception.
"The future passes through the circular economy without this entailing a cost for the company," predicts Cano.
Meanwhile, Cano makes himself "available to any company" that wants to use his biofilter.
As a small company, they have
more flexibility and fewer obstacles
to implement systems of this type, which "predisposes them a lot for creativity" and allows them to think "about the environment".
This type of process, like others carried out by beer companies, show that although it is part of the art,
there is a lot of science behind it
.
And that the result is not only useful, it must be used to combine with food, it must also, as Cano says, "combine the quality of the beer with the care of the environment".
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
See links of interest
Last News
Work calendar
Home THE WORLD TODAY
Master Investigation Journalism
Sweden - Spain, live
Spain - United States, live
Japan - Spain, live