Colorado brewery turns waste into ethanol to use as gas substitute
The Coors brewery in Golden, Colo., and Merrick & Co. of Aurora have struck up a partnership to use beer waste to process 1.5 million gallons a year of the gas substitute ethanol.
A plant built nine years ago in Golden distills the leftovers from beer making has been such a success that a second facility will open soon.
The second plant will double ethanol production at the brewery, partly by gathering millions of gallons of spilled beer and putting it directly into the process via an underground pipeline.
“With the demand high and the need even higher, it seemed like a great time to expand,” said Steven Wagner, the Merrick vice president who helps lead the Coors ethanol project. Under a 15-year agreement, the company leases land from Coors, buys the residuals from the brewer and owns the plant.
The ethanol is sold under a contract with Valero Energy Corp., which distributes the ethanol to Diamond Shamrock stations.
“We’ve basically taken a waste stream and turned it into a revenue stream,” Wagner said.
Merrick and Coors officials declined to provide financial details of the deal. Ethanol at the plant generally is sold near wholesale-market value. Last week in Denver that was about $2.50 a gallon.