Sustainable Iron Powder to Brew Beer, a World First Technology

15 million glasses of beer have already been brewed with the new technology.

Deniz Yildiran
Sustainable Iron Powder to Brew Beer, a World First Technology
The iron powder is poured into the iron fuel installation.Bart van Overbeeke/TU Eindhoven

We’re already familiar with how the beer brewed on heat-intensive power plants tastes. And we bet you’ll like the feeling while tasting the beer brewed without any CO2 emissions, without causing any damage to the environment

Researchers and a student team from the Eindhoven University of Technology, along with Swinkels Family Brewers and the Metal Power consortium have developed the world’s first installation to brew beer using iron powder. 

RELATED: THE SCIENCE BEFORE BREWING BEER

Referring to the energy fired out of iron fuel as CO2-free, reusable, safe, compact, and easily transportable, the team has flawlessly brewed beer through the new installation placed in Bavaria, one of the breweries of Swinkels Family Brewers. 

“No CO2 is produced during combustion and only rust remains,” Philip de Goey, Professor of Combustion Technology at TU Eindhoven said. “It’s a circular process: you capture this rust powder and sustainably convert it back into iron powder.”

15 million glasses of beer had been reportedly brewed with the current installation system. It seems that fossil fuels will be needed less and help get the University team closer to their goal of reaching zero CO2 emissions soon

The iron fuel installation on transport at brewery Bavaria. Source: Bart van Overbeeke/TU Eindhoven

Power plants and heavy industries are reportedly responsible for the %40 of CO2 emissions in total around the world. The University’s plan was to take the amount down to zero, implementing iron fuel technology. 

“The beauty of iron fuel is that you can release the energy stored in iron fuel when and where you need it,” said de Goey. “If you grind iron into a powder, it becomes highly flammable and this combustion releases a lot of energy in the form of heat. This heat can meet the industry’s energy demand.” 

“Our ambition is to convert the first coal-fired power plants into sustainable iron fuel plants by 2030,” Chan Botter added, leader of the student team SOLID.

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