Brewing beer uses a lot of grain, and after that grain has been used in make the wort, it has to go somewhere. I know some homebrewers who use it to make bread, and a lot of the microbreweries I have gone to send it off to a local farm. This may just be that I am in Montana we have plenty of farms to go around. Many breweries located in large cities probably don’t have this option available to them, but what if they could use their spent grains to produce energy?

That is exactly what Purpose Energy out of Arlington, Massachusetts is proposing. Started by Eric Fitch two years ago, Purpose Energy’s goal is to create a “sustainable solution that specifically addresses both the emerging byproduct and energy issues for the brewing industry.” They are currently building a 2 billion BTU digester adjacent to the Magic Hat Brewing Company, which will break down spent grains into methane to power traditional natural gas systems.

“The cost for them to remediate this by-product can be about as expensive as the cost of energy itself. With an anaerobic digester they can get a two-fer, producing methane for energy and breaking down the grain,” he said.

Fitch, an engineer by trade, came up with the idea when the was wondering who was capitalizing on the renewable natural gas market. It appeared no one was, and who better to partner up with than breweries since they already discard the grains that are easily converted to methane.

“The reason why we chose a brewery of Magic Hat’s size is if it works, you’ve just shown to every major brewery you’re doing something that works,” he said. “Building the first one is always hard, but the next ones will be easier and easier.”

Full Story at Mass High Tech