Efficient craft brewing from overseas

Power and heat from biogas for the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville
The CHP unit helps to ensure the security of supply for the traditional brewery and also contributes to cost savings.

Facts & figures

Application:
Food and beverage industry
Country:
United States
CHP:
patruus 400
Output el/th (kW):
400 kWel / 545 kWth
Operator:
Yuengling & Son Inc.

Over 4 million hectoliters of beer are brewed each year in this, one of the most popular breweries in the USA. The Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, doesn’t just make barley juice. Thanks to the patruus 400, the company now produces 20 percent of the power it needs on its own.

Brewery on its way to self-sufficiency
Yuengling beer hails from Pottsville, a town in Pennsylvania which was heavily influenced by German immigrants in the 20th century. Still under family ownership, it is America’s oldest brewery and boasts an annual output of 4.43 million hectoliters, making Yuengling the sixth largest brewery in the USA. In March, the brewery decided to start supplying its own energy, thanks to the 400 kW electrical output from the patruus 400 installed, the brewery will be able to produce 20 percent of the electricity it needs for production.

High efficiency ratings ensure effectiveness
The plant’s thermal output of 545 kW also supplies the pasteurization process, which requires large amounts of heat. The biogas which the plant runs on comes directly from the plant’s own wastewater treatment plant, thereby putting the residue from the brewing process to productive use. The energy provided by the patruus 400 doesn’t just safeguard the brewery’s supply, the CHP unit also helps keep costs down. Thanks to its high electrical and thermal efficiency ratings (37.2 and 50.7 percent, respectively) the patruus makes use of nearly 90 percent of the energy which the gas contains, making the machine a front runner when it comes to efficiency.

The CHP unit was installed in a container and is located next to the brewery building.

Download

References

Similar projects