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Did you know that breweries have traditionally relied on CO2 as the essential gas for all brewing processes? In the past, carbon dioxide was the gas of choice for a brewery, from tank flushing to filling and inerting. But times are changing: nitrogen is an inert gas that has been identified by the food and beverage industry as the alternative to CO2.
Why should breweries consider switching from CO2 to N2?
There are three main reasons breweries should consider switching from CO2 to N2:
1. Versatility of nitrogen
2. Sustainability & environmental protection
3. Economics
However, on-site nitrogen production is not about completely removing CO2 from the brewery's operations. Rather, it is about using the efficiency and cost advantages of nitrogen compared to the more expensive CO2 where possible and also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the associated CO2 footprint.
Whether it's a small or large brewery, using locally generated nitrogen is almost always worthwhile. Whether a few thousand or several hundred thousand liters of beer are brewed in a brewery per year, the Atlas Copco product portfolio includes economical nitrogen generators for small and large breweries. A nitrogen generator can also be designed in such a way that growth and an increase in production volume are taken into account. So there are no production bottlenecks in the long term.
All the advantages of nitrogen over CO2:
Versatility of nitrogen.
As we mentioned earlier, the food and beverage industry relies on nitrogen as an alternative to CO2. It is the preferred gas for fumigating packaged goods. It is also used for bottling.
When purging tanks, nitrogen renders the tank free of oxygen and prevents oxidation and subsequent contamination. N2 is also used for cleaning, inerting and filling bottles and cans.
Sustainability & carbon footprint.
An interesting fact: when some of the CO2 is replaced with nitrogen, a brewery's carbon footprint is significantly reduced. When the nitrogen used in a brewing process is released, it just returns to the air it came from, avoiding greenhouse gas emissions.
In figures, this means that a brewery which produces 10,000 barrels / year and two-thirds of their CO2 consumption replaced by N2, greenhouse gas emissions can be up to 24 tonnes per year reduction .
Economics.
Put simply, nitrogen costs a lot less than CO2. Breweries typically pay much less per cubic meter for nitrogen when they produce it on site. You can compare that number to what you are paying for CO2 in cylinders today. The price can easily be 50 times more expensive.
Since transport costs play a major role here, CO2 costs can also double or even triple, depending on how far the brewery is from the gas distribution center. By switching to on-site nitrogen production, breweries can significantly improve their production, greatly reduce their CO2 emissions and save a considerable amount of money.
If you'd like to learn more about what this would look like in your brewery, join us here.
