Beer Brewery Research Articles

Electricity generating capacity and performance deterioration of a microbial fuel cell fed with beer brewery wastewater

This study focused on using beer brewery wastewater (BBW) to evaluate membrane concentrate disposal and production of electricity in microbial fuel cells. In the membrane treatment of BBW, the membrane permeate concentration was 570 ± 30 mg/L corresponding to a chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 75 ± 5%, and the flux values changed between 160 and 40 L/m(2)-h for all membrane runs. For electricity production from membrane concentrate, the highest current density in the microbial fuel cell (MFC) was observed to be 1950 mA/m(2) according to electrode surface area with 36% COD removal efficiency and 2.48% CE with 60% BBW membrane concentrate. The morphologies of the cation exchange membrane and the MFC deterioration were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). A decrease in the thermal stability of the sulfonate (-SO3H) groups was demonstrated and morphological changes were detected in the SEM analysis.

Beer, Wood, and Welfare

Local beer breweries in Burkina Faso absorb a considerable amount of urban woodfuel demand. We assess the woodfuel savings caused by the adoption of improved brewing stoves by these micro-breweries and estimate the implied welfare effects through the woodfuel market on private households as well as the environmental effect. We find substantial wood savings among the breweries and, subsequently, huge welfare gains for households and reductions in CO2-emissions. Since woodfuel is predominantly used for cooking by the poorer strata, the intervention under study is an example for a green growth intervention with pro-poor welfare gains - something green growth strategies should look for.

Hop bitter acids inhibit PD-L1 expression and tumorigenicity of hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Bitter acids (BA) are the major component of the female inflorescences of the hop plant humulus lupulus. Asides from its main application in the beer brewery process recent studies revealed that BA are multipotent bioactive compounds that exhibit anti-carcinogenic effects.

A Comprehensive Study on Electricity Production from Beer Brewery Wastewater by Microbial Fuel Cells

A Comprehensive Study on Electricity Production from Beer Brewery Wastewater by Microbial Fuel Cells

Methanoregula formicica sp. nov., a methane-producing archaeon isolated from methanogenic sludge

A novel methane-producing archaeon, strain SMSP(T), was isolated from an anaerobic, propionate-degrading enrichment culture that was originally obtained from granular sludge in a mesophilic upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor used to treat a beer brewery effluent. Cells were non-motile, blunt-ended, straight rods, 1.0-2.6 μm long by 0.5 μm wide; cells were sometimes up to 7 μm long. Asymmetrical cell division was observed in rod-shaped cells. Coccoid cells (0.5-1.0 μm in diameter) were also observed in mid- to late-exponential phase cultures. Growth was observed between 10 and 40 °C (optimum, 30-33 °C) and pH 7.0 and 7.6 (optimum, pH 7.4). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 56.2 mol%. The strain utilized formate and hydrogen for growth and methane production. Based on comparative sequence analyses of the 16S rRNA and mcrA (encoding the alpha subunit of methyl-coenzyme M reductase, a key enzyme in the methane-producing pathway) genes, strain SMSP(T) was affiliated with group E1/E2 within the order Methanomicrobiales. The closest relative based on both 16S rRNA and mcrA gene sequences was Methanoregula boonei 6A8(T) (96.3 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, 85.4 % deduced McrA amino acid sequence similarity). The percentage of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity indicates that strain SMSP(T) and Methanoregula boonei 6A8(T) represent different species within the same genus. This is supported by our findings of shared phenotypic properties, including cell morphology and growth temperature range, and phenotypic differences in substrate usage and pH range. Based on these genetic and phenotypic properties, we propose that strain SMSP(T) represents a novel species of the genus Methanoregula, for which we propose the name Methanoregula formicica sp. nov., with the type strain SMSP(T) (=NBRC 105244(T) =DSM 22288(T)).

Ash Properties of Alternative Biomass

The ash behavior during suspension firing of 12 alternative solid biofuels, such as pectin waste, mash from a beer brewery, or waste from cigarette production have been studied and compared to wood and straw ash behavior. Laboratory suspension firing tests were performed on an entrained flow reactor and a swirl burner test rig, with special emphasis on the formation of fly ash and ash deposit. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations were performed to support the interpretation of the experiments. To generalize the results of the combustion tests, the fuels are classified according to fuel ash analysis into three main groups depending upon their ash content of silica, alkali metal, and calcium and magnesium. To further detail the biomass classification, the relative molar ratio of Cl, S, and P to alkali were included. The study has led to knowledge on biomass fuel ash composition influence on ash transformation, ash deposit flux, and deposit chlorine content when biomass fuels are applied for suspension combustion.

Examining of the segmented electrode use from the viewpoint of the electrolyte volatilizing in molten carbonate fuel cell

Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) have entered the pre-commercialization phase, and have been experimentally demonstrated in real world applications, including beer brewery, etc. However, though MCFCs have a high potential and an enough operating experience as an energy supply system, they are not explosively widespread. One of these reasons is cost of cell components. Because the thickness of both electrodes is 0.8 mm and both electrodes are made of porous plates of 1 m 2 of the electrode area, they are often broken by a thermal stress in the sintering process of an electrode and by a worker's carelessness at the cell assembly process. Generally, because these cracking electrodes can potentially cause electrolyte leakage and gas crossover, they are not used to a MCFC stack and are disposed of. Therefore, it made the cost of MCFC be raised. The performance of a cell that uses a mosaic electrode has been evaluated. However, the causal relation between the cracking of an electrode and an electrolyte-leakage has not been yet confirmed. If this causal relationship is elucidated, a cracking electrode or a mosaic electrode can be used to MCFC, such that the cost of MCFC systems would consequently decrease. Therefore, we studied the causal relation between the cracking of an electrode and electrolyte leakage and gas crossover using a visualization technique. In the case of an anode electrode where the centre section of a cell has crack of about 1 mm, the electrolyte leakage from this crack could not be observed by the visualization technique. Moreover, the gas crossover could not be also observed by the visualization technique, and nitrogen in the anode exhaust gas was not detected by a gas chromatography. However, the electrolyte leakage observed from the wet-seal section though the gap between the separator and the electrode was always 1 mm or less. Therefore, electrolyte leakage hardly occurs, even if a cracked anode electrode is installed into the centre section of the cell. On the other hand, although the volatile substance gushes from the wet seal section, the electrolyte leakage/volatilization phenomenon does not occur at the centre of the cell or at the gap between each segmented cathode. The volatile substance in the cathode gas-distributor-channel is composed of the electrolyte mist and the electrolyte volatile substance, and the rate of release is about 2.5 times that of anode side. Although the segmented electrode can be applied to the anode in a MCFC, it cannot be applied to a cathode from the viewpoint of the electrolyte leakage/volatilization.

Anaerobic digestion of secondary residuals from an anaerobic bioreactor at a brewery to enhance bioenergy generation

Many beer breweries use high-rate anaerobic digestion (AD) systems to treat their soluble high-strength wastewater. Biogas from these AD systems is used to offset nonrenewable energy utilization in the brewery. With increasing nonrenewable energy costs, interest has mounted to also digest secondary residuals from the high-rate digester effluent, which consists of yeast cells, bacteria, methanogens, and small (hemi)cellulosic particles. Mesophilic (37 degrees C) and thermophilic (55 degrees C) lab-scale, low-rate continuously-stirred anaerobic digestion (CSAD) bioreactors were operated for 258 days by feeding secondary residuals at a volatile solids (VS) concentration of approximately 40 g l(-1). At a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 15 days and a VS loading rate of 2.7 g VS l(-1) day(-1), the mesophilic bioreactor showed an average specific volumetric biogas production rate of 0.88 l CH4 l(-1) day(-1) and an effluent VS concentration of 22.2 g VS l(-1) (43.0% VS removal efficiency) while the thermophilic bioreactor displayed similar performances. The overall methane yield for both systems was 0.21 l CH4 g(-1) VS fed and 0.47-0.48 l CH4 g(-1) VS removed. A primary limitation of thermophilic digestion of this protein-rich waste is the inhibition of methanogens due to higher nondissociated (free) ammonia (NH3) concentrations under similar total ammonium (NH4+) concentrations at equilibrium. Since thermophilic AD did not result in advantageous methane production rates or yields, mesophilic AD was, therefore, superior in treating secondary residuals from high-rate AD effluent. An additional digester to convert secondary residuals to methane may increase the total biogas generation at the brewery by 8% compared to just conventional high-rate digestion of brewery wastewater alone.

Enhanced ethanol fermentation of brewery wastewater using the genetically modified strain E. coli KO11

We have used liquid waste obtained from a beer brewery process to produce ethanol. To increase the productivity, genetically modified organism, Escherichia coli KO11, was used for ethanol fermentation. Yeast was also used to produce ethanol from the same feed stock, and the ethanol production rates and resulting concentrations of sugars and ethanol were compared with those of KO11. In the experiments, first the raw wastewater was directly fermented using two strains with no saccharification enzymes added. Then, commercial enzymes, alpha-amylase, pectinase, or a combination of both, were used for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, and the results were compared with those of the no-enzyme experiments for KO11 and yeast. Under the given conditions with or without the enzymes, yeast produced ethanol more rapidly than E. coli KO11, but the final ethanol concentrations were almost the same. For both yeast and KO11, the enzymes were observed to enhance the ethanol yields by 61-84% as compared to the fermentation without enzymes. The combination of the two enzymes increased ethanol production the most for the both strains. The advantages of using KO11 were not demonstrated clearly as compared to the yeast fermentation results.

Electrolytic Treatment of Beer Brewery Wastewater

A novel method of beer brewery wastewater treatment was developed based on in situ hypochlorous acid generation. The hypochlorous acid was generated in an undivided electrolytic cell that consisted of two sets of graphite as the anode and stainless sheets as the cathode. The generated hypochlorous acid served as an oxidizing agent to destroy the organic present in the brewery wastewater. An influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of 2470 mg/L at an initial pH 4.5, a current density of 74.5 mA/cm2, a sodium chloride content of 3%, and an electrolysis period of 50 min resulted in the following values: pH, 6.7; COD, 64 mg/L; biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), 30 mg/L; total organic carbon (TOC), 40 mg/L; residual total chlorine, 162 mg/L; turbidity, 20 NTU (nephelometric turbidity units); ammonia nitrogen (NH3−N), below the detectable limit; and temperature, 40 °C. The energy requirements were determined to be 56 and 39 W/L, while treating 24 L of beer brewery wastewater with sodium chloride conc...

Phenotypic Properties and Microbial Diversity of Methanogenic Granules from a Full-Scale Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed Reactor Treating Brewery Wastewater

Methanogenic granules from an anaerobic bioreactor that treated wastewater of a beer brewery consisted of different morphological types of granules. In this study, the microbial compositions of the different granules were analyzed by molecular microbiological techniques: cloning, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. We propose here that the different types of granules reflect the different stages in the life cycle of granules. Young granules were small, black, and compact and harbored active cells. Gray granules were the most abundant granules. These granules have a multilayer structure with channels and void areas. The core was composed of dead or starving cells with low activity. The brown granules, which were the largest granules, showed a loose and amorphous structure with big channels that resulted in fractured zones and corresponded to the older granules. Firmicutes (as determined by FISH) and Nitrospira and Deferribacteres (as determined by cloning and sequencing) were the predominant Bacteria. Remarkably, Firmicutes could not be detected in the brown granules. The methanogenic Archaea identified were Methanosaeta concilii (70 to 90% by FISH and cloning), Methanosarcina mazei, and Methanospirillum spp. The phenotypic appearance of the granules reflected the physiological condition of the granules. This may be valuable to easily select appropriate seed sludges to start up other reactors.

Extraction of Polyphenols in Hop Bract Part Discharged from Beer Breweries

Wastes discharged from beer breweries are mainly composed of malt and hop. The nutritional value of malt is quite high and, consequently, it is recycled as feed for domestic animals; however, the nutritional value of hop as feed is not so high. A new utilization method for hop waste is therefore required. In this experiment, it is found that Procyanidin, a polymer composed of catechins, is abundantly contained in hop bract part and hop itself. This research deals with the extraction of total polyphenols, catechin, and procyanidin from hop bract part under various extraction conditions. When ethanol was used as the extract solvent, about 30% of the total extracted polyphenols was procyanidin, showing that ethanol has the highest selectivity for procyanidin. The extraction of all polyphenols, catechin, and procyanidin was conducted in about 10 min at a temperature of 293–333 K and with horizontal shaking at 130 rpm. The amount of each polyphenol extracted increased with increasing temperature. The total amount of catechin extracted reached a maximum at an extraction temperature of 333 K. Compared with tea, more polyphenols were shown to be contained in the hop bract part. A continuous extraction process for collection of the polyphenols contained in the hop bract part using a modified mixer-settler extractor device is described and the fundamental performance of the presented extractor was examined.

ビール糟からのミネラル成分の溶出に関する研究

Beer lees are a waste discharged in a large amount from a beer brewery. In order to convert beer lees to valuables, we have carried out the investigations for the production of beer lees charcoal, the evaluation of burning characteristics of the charcoal and the application of the charcoal to water purification. Beer lees contain 4.4% ash and the ash content of beer lees charcoal is 11.9%. The dissolution phenomena of minerals such as Zn, Fe, Ca, Mg, K, Na etc. from beer lees, beer lees charcoal and beer lees ash were examined by using lactic, tartaric and citric acid solutions as a solvent. The organic acids contained in natural plants were used for this purpose, as the dissolved solution may be used for food additives. These acids are considered to be effective for the dissolution of minerals due to the complex formation ability. The obtained results were evaluated using the conditional stability constants between minerals such as Zn, Ca and Mg, and the organic acid.

Removal of herbicide paraquat from an aqueous solution by adsorption onto spent and treated diatomaceous earth

A spent diatomaceous earth from the beer brewery has been tentatively activated by sodium hydroxide at about 100 °C. The resulting product was used as a novel adsorbent for the adsorption of herbicide paraquat from an aqueous solution in a continuously stirred adsorber and batch flasks, respectively. The results showed that the adsorption process could be well described by the pseudo-second-order reaction model. From the view of the negatively charged surface of diatomaceous earth and cationic property of paraquat, the results were also reasonable to be explained by physical adsorption in the ion-exchange process under the effects of pH and temperature. Further, it was found that the Freundlich model appeared to fit the isotherm data better than the Langmuir model.

Simultaneous spectra-kinetic determination of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide in a brewery cleaning-in-place disinfection process

A spectra-kinetic approach was applied for the simultaneous determination of peroxyacetic acid (PAA) and hydrogen peroxide with multiple linear regression (MLR) method, using the initial rates of their reaction with diphenylamine (DPA). The predictive ability of the MLR method is based on the slight kinetic differences of these analytes occur at two wavelengths when react with DPA as a common ligand. A stopped flow apparatus was used, and the time-resolved UV–vis spectra were measured with a coupled charge device (CCD) spectrophotometer. This novel instrumentation allowed to obtain high quality kinetic data at a maximum of many wavelengths simultaneously. The method was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of these peroxides in residues from a disinfection process in a beer brewery.

Analysis of Reactions for Biodegradation of Volatile Acid Components in an Anaerobic Sludge Granular Bed Treating Beer Brewery Wastewater

The reaction kinetics for anaerobic biodegradation of volatile acid components, including acetic, propionic and butyric acids commonly contained in the wastewater from beer brewery factories, was investigated in a granular sludge bed. For the degradation of each single substrate component in the granular sludge bed reactor, the reaction scheme was specified and the Monod kinetic parameters were evaluated. In addition, the degradation sequences and their kinetics were also identified for multiple substrate systems with combinations of the three volatile acid components including acetic, propionic and butyric acids. The batch degradation sequences for the single and multiple substrates in the batch sludge bed reactor were explained well by the numerical solutions of multiple differential mass balance equations for the components involved on the basis of the Monod kinetics associated with or without competitive and non-competitive inhibition mechanisms for the specified combinations of the substrate components.

Coming clean with fuel cells

Fuel cells, mostly phosphoric acid, have been shown to operate well on renewable biogas fuels, such as anaerobic digester gas (ADC) produced at wastewater treatment plants as well as landfill gas (LFG) and gas produced in beer breweries. This paper discusses an innovative emission-offset project that utilizes anaerobic digester gas-powered fuel cells to produce electricity in New York. The use of fuel cells at wastewater treatment plants is also discussed.

最近の燃料電池の開発動向

The purpose of this report is to have a general view of the present status on research, development and demonstration of fuel cells in addition to their principle and characteristics. Among a few kinds of fuel cells, PAFC has almost reached at the semi-commercial stage, and large efforts have now been given for realizing the PAFC as cogeneration plant using the biogas from garbage and beer brewery process. MCFC is on the way of the demonstration stage with a large scale system under the ledership of NEDO and MITI in Japan. With respect to SOFC several organizations have been taking part in its research and development projects for the purpose of developing super-high efficient power system. PEFC is becoming more and more attractive in expectation of being especially realized as fuel cell propulsion system for electric vehicles and also as residential co-generation devices. A large number of companies have recently entered into the fields related to PEFC system development including fuel delivery infrastructure.

Life Cycle Assessment of Beer Brewery Factory Based on Cumulative CO2 Emission Unit

Life Cycle Assessment of Beer Brewery Factory Based on Cumulative CO<SUB>2</SUB> Emission Unit

Transformation of industrial food wastes into polyhydroxyalkanoates

Due to the synthetic and biologically inert nature of petroleum-derived plastics, the disposal of these solid wastes has been a focus of concern for waste management. Thus, the demand for biodegradable plastics has become a highly visible issue. Broader usage of biodegradable plastics in packaging and disposable products as a solution to environmental problems would heavily depend on further reduction in costs and the discovery of novel biodegradable plastics with improved properties. As the first step in pursuit of eventual usage of industrial food wastewater as nutrients for microorganisms to synthesize environmental-friendly bioplastics, the usage of soya wastes and malt wastes from a beer brewery plant were investigated as the carbon sources for the production of bioplastics. Bench experiments showed that microorganisms from the municipal activated sludges used the nutrients from malt and soya wastes to biosynthesise PHAs. The results of experiments indicated that with the proper selection of the type of food wastes as the carbon source, bioplastics with specific PHAs copolymers could be produced with distinct polymer physical properties.