USA: Coors Brewery could become a producer of innovative car fuel

Coors Brewery in near future could become, besides a famous beer producer, a producer of innovative car fuel. According to a news report for CNN Money, Coors uses waste from the beer production process to produce approximately 1.5 million gallons of ethanol, which is afterwards sold in the wholesale market.

Coors in partnership with area engineering firm Merrick & Company produce the alternative fuel. Coors stated they plan to build another ethanol facility due to the success of the program: "We've basically taken a waste stream and turned it into a revenue stream," said Steven Wagner, the Merrick vice president who oversees the ethanol project.

The ethanol’s demand, which is a gasoline substitute, is at an all-time high in the U.S, as the country has faced rising energy costs, particularly gasoline. The whole process of ethanol producing involves taking the beer waste and putting it through a two-hour refining process that leaves behind 200-proof ethanol, according to the paper. After being mixed with gasoline, the resulting fuel is then shipped out to various gas stations in the region.

The second facility, which will double Coors' ethanol production would transform into ethanol the millions of gallons of by-product from Coors brands.

25 October, 2005