Adnams claims UK first with beer AD plant

The Suffolk-based beer maker says it will be the first to turn brewing and food waste into a renewable source of gas when it opens the plant in around October this year.

About 60% of the gas will be used to run the brewery’s fleet of delivery trucks and, once commissioning work has taken place later this summer, the rest will supply power to the national grid.

The £2.75 million plant is capable of producing up to 4.8 million KW hours of energy each year – enough to heat 235 family homes for a year or run an average car for four million miles.

The plant features three digesters inside which naturally occurring bacteria act without oxygen to break down up to 12,500 tonnes of organic waste each year and produce biomethane.

Adnams’ chief executive, Andy Wood, said: “For a number of years now, Adnams has been investing in ways to reduce our impact on the environment.

“The reality of being able to convert our own brewing waste and local food waste to power Adnams’ brewery and vehicles, as well as the wider community is very exciting.

“The industrial ecology cycle is completed when the fertiliser produced from the anaerobic digestion process can be used on farmland to grow barley for Adnams beer.

“This facility will have a major impact on the reduction of carbon emissions in the region and the production of renewable energy.

“The food waste would otherwise be destined for landfill, but processing it through the digester will save an estimated 50,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents from landfill.”

Luke Walsh