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O-21. Biogas from spent grains—State-of-the-art technology

Presenter: Jens Voigt, Technische Universität München, Center of Life Sciences, Weihenstephan, Germany.

Brewer’s spent grains form a major portion of the waste from the brewing process and can be used for re-gaining of energy in the form of biogas. Since this waste is not in competition with other crops that are specially produced for energy production, the ecological balance of a brewery plant can be improved. If the biocenosis for fermentation is carefully selected and the spent grains are milled to a suitable particle size, the efficiency of biogas generation can be improved. The energy balance of a brewery can be influenced positively. The fermentation is done in several process steps with hydrolysis and methane formation. In a further step, the fermentation will be set up in a continuous solid-state fermenter, which leads to reduced plant sizes and increased biogas yield.

Jens Voigt received a Diploma Engineer (M.S.) degree in brewing and beverage technology from TU München-Weihenstephan, Germany, in 1985. He held several positions in the brewing equipment supply industry from 1985 to 2003. He received his doctorate in brewing technology with Prof. Narziss in 1993. Since early 2004 he has been an assistant professor with Karl Sommer at the Chair for Process Technology of Disperse Systems at the WZW (Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan [Center of Life Science, Weihenstephan]), working on brewing process technology issues. He is member of MBAA and IBD, as well as the editorial boards of the Technical Quarterly of the Master Brewers Association of the. Americas and the Journal of the Institute of Brewing. Jens is currently chair of the IBD International Section. He is also a member of the MBAA Global Emerging Issues Committee and the EBC Brewing Science Group. His work group was awarded the EON award for environment in 2008.

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