California brewery uses CO₂ from the air for beer production

The US-American craft beer brewery Almanac Beer has released a beer that is carbonated with carbon dioxide captured directly from the air. The beer is marketed under the name Almanc x Aircapture Flow West Coast Pale Ale. To capture the CO₂ from the air, the brewery has partnered with Aircapture, a US company specializing in capturing CO₂ from the air and purifying it to food grade. Almanac aims to bypass reliance on supply chains for food-grade CO₂ and to capture the CO₂ more cost-effectively on-site.

CO₂ for food production can become scarce from time to time, as was the case in the USA in 2022. A large portion of this CO₂ is a byproduct of industrial processes that use fossil fuels to produce ammonia or ethanol, for example. Due to the significant climate-unfriendly CO₂ emissions during the production of ammonia, for instance, companies are using the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, where nitrogen and hydrogen react under high pressure, less. Instead, the industry is now switching to renewable energies and using electrolysis to produce “green” ammonia. This can lead to CO₂ becoming scarce for the food and beverage industry, resulting in operational disruptions and cost increases. Breweries with high CO₂ requirements are particularly affected.

Capturing CO₂ from the Air

Aircapture has made it its mission to view carbon dioxide not just as a byproduct but as a raw material. Accordingly, they have developed a process that filters CO₂ out of the ambient air. To achieve this, ambient air is drawn into the Direct-Air-Capture plant. The CO₂ contained within is absorbed by a series of specialized adsorbents. Once saturated, steam releases the pure CO₂ in liquid form. The air, purified of CO₂, is then released back into the atmosphere.

Aircapture does not disclose details about the exact process. However, the liquefied CO₂ is said to have a high purity level of 99.999 percent, thus exceeding the required purity standards for CO₂ in food production.

Aircapture does not extract the CO₂ itself but offers its CO₂ capture plant for integration into existing manufacturing facilities. In the case of the Almanac brewery, the CO₂ can be captured locally from the atmosphere and fed directly into the brewing process. The Almanac brewery, based in Alameda, California, thus not only saves the costs of industrially produced CO2 and its delivery but is also independent of production bottlenecks and market prices.

Almanac Beer shares a portion of its proceeds from the “Flow – Clean Air Edition” of its beer with Carbon180, a non-profit environmental organization that advocates politically for climate protection by removing CO₂ from the air.

(olb)