‘World’s first’ beer-based biofuel launched

A New Zealand brewery has launched what is believed to be the world’s first beer-based biofuel at a petrol station in Auckland.

DB Export’s Brewtroleum arrives in Auckland

DB Export unveiled its Brewtroleum – a biofuel made from natural beer waste and exported by DB Export – at a Gull Kingsland petrol station in Auckland today, believed to be the first commercially available beer-based biofuel in the world.

Giving drivers the choice of topping up their tanks with a more environmentally friendly alternative, the beer-based fuel will be available at 60 North Island Gull service stations as of today.

The company has produced an 300,000 litres of 98 octane biofuel, mixing 30,000 litres of ethanol with petrol to produce the biofuel. The ethanol was produced from more than 58,000 litres of yeast slurry that would have otherwise been discarded.

DB Export claims the fuel emits 8% less carbon that tradition petroleum and delivers the same performance.

Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, Sean O’Donnell, DB Export’s head of domestic beer marketing, said: “Our brewers at DB Export were talking about what we can do with the waste, and one of them said we could make a biofuel. This is a genuinely exciting opportunity. It’s a world-first, we’re helping Kiwis save the world by doing what they enjoy best – drinking beer.
“If you were to fuel your car with biofuel over a year it would be over 250 tonnes of carbon emission you would be saving.”
O’Donnell said he would like to see Brewtroleum become a permanent fixture at petrol stations, with the first batch expected to last just six weeks.

“It’s a case of testing consumer demand and assessing the feasibility of ongoing production and logistics”, he said.