CO2 Value: Powering the Carbon Circular Economy
With its background in brewing technology and carbon reduction, GEA is bringing CO2 recovery capacity to a growing number of breweries looking to lower their carbon costs, dependency and footprint.
The wake-up call came in 2022: following the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, soaring natural gas prices and disruptions to fertilizer production in Europe resulted in a severe shortage of food-grade CO2, forcing some beverage producers to shut down operations. For many breweries and soft drink makers relying on external suppliers for their CO2, it was a stark reminder of the value of CO2 – and the need to explore alternative sources.
The good news here for breweries is that they have their own “in-house” source of usable CO2 waiting to be tapped. During the beer-brewing process, yeast feasts on the sugary wort and converts it into alcohol, releasing a significant amount of CO2. Some of this gas makes the beer fizzy, but most of it is simply released into the atmosphere. This “waste” CO2 can actually be recovered and reused – to reduce dependence on external suppliers, lower costs and shrink the carbon footprint. It’s not a new idea, but one that has attracted a lot more attention – and inspired a lot more action – since 2022.
Sweden’s largest brewery leads the way
One recent mover was Spendrups Bryggeri AB in Sweden, the country’s largest brewery and beverage group. Known for its extensive beverage portfolio, Spendrups – with approx. 1,100 employees and some €500 Million in annual revenue (2023) – had begun exploring CO2 recovery a decade ago. “We had done studies, performed calculations on our CO2 production, and made preparations to invest, but the 2022 shortage was the final straw – the compelling economic case for investing in CO2 recovery,” explains Michael Duphorn, Senior Project Manager at Spendrups Bryggeri AB. Later that year, they commissioned GEA to integrate a CO2 recovery plant into their existing brewery line.
After launching the system in February of 2024, Spendrups was able to recover and reuse over three million kg of CO2 in the first year of operation. They are currently meeting 50% of CO2 demand with their own supply – using it primarily to de-aerate the blending water, prevent oxidation during transfer of the wort between vessels, carbonate the final beer product, and purge bottles of oxygen during the filling stage. “The quality of the CO2 we recover is good enough to use for anything in our operations, including mineral water, but so far we use it only in beer production,” says Duphorn.
Spendrups is Sweden’s first brewery to recover CO2 from its own production processes using this method, and it recently received the Återvinnings Industrierna award (bronze) for its contribution to the circular economy.
"We’re very pleased with recovery rates so far and expect to be able to generate five million kg of CO2 at full capacity. This also means we avoid having to purchase and transport some 200 truckloads of CO2, which further reduces our costs and carbon footprint."
Michael Duphorn, Senior Project Manager, Spendrups Bryggeri AB
Among other benefits, Duphorn highlights the aspects of self-sufficiency and CO2 quality. “Being able to supply 50% or more of our own CO2 just makes us less vulnerable to market fluctuations and the kind of supply shortages we saw in 2022,” he says. “And by recovering the CO2 ourselves, we know where it’s coming from. We know it’s extremely good purity and we know it’s a biological source – not a by-product of industrial combustion processes, as with most of the CO2 available on the market.”
The keys to success
“From the beer, into the beer” is GEA’s credo for promoting CO2 recovery in brewing. As a longtime provider of complete brewery installations, GEA has offered recovery systems as part of its greenfield brewery projects for over 35 years. Today, most of the demand is from existing breweries looking to get in the CO2 recovery game. “Especially since the CO2 shortage of 2022, we’ve seen a spike in interest from customers looking for a standalone recovery system,” says Max Straub, Product Manager CO2 Recovery Systems in GEA’s Liquid & Powder Technologies division. “Most customers, like Spendrups, have existing operations and are now looking to find a cost-effective way to integrate CO2 recovery.” In many cases, these existing brewing operations are decades old, which makes retrofitting a new, fully automated CO2 recovery plant a complex process.
GEA’s Michael Meyer, Project Manager Utilities at GEA, oversaw the design and installation of Spendrups’ CO2 recovery system in 2024. “The oldest part of the Spendrups brewery dates back to the 1950’s and since then they’ve rebuilt and expanded it significantly. For these brownfield projects, the key is making sure the new CO2 recovery system integrates seamlessly with existing piping and instrumentation – all without disrupting current operations,” says Meyer. “Existing breweries often have limited space so we need to be creative sometimes when it comes to routing the CO2 recovery piping and integrating it with the older equipment. We make sure to select the right materials to ensure they are compatible with the existing system. And because an existing brewery will often run on manual processes, we have to ensure a smooth interface with our fully automated recovery system.” GEA also makes sure that the system complies with all relevant safety and environmental regulations, and allows for easy maintenance.
Collaboration with the customer is key. “There’s no question that a strong working relationship with the customer is crucial – having a clear understanding of their brewery operations and helping them get up to speed with the new recovery system.” As Meyer explains, it all starts with calculating the amount of CO2 that will accrue in their brewery based on brews per day, hectoliters per brew, beer types and recipes. “From this we can establish an upper range of CO2 generation and begin creating the P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagram),” he explains.
Spendrups’ forecast of five million kg CO2 recovery per year translates into roughly EUR 1 million in cost savings annually (assuming average prices for liquid CO2 in Europe). Spendrups estimates a return on investment of roughly 3 years, which includes the costs of construction and GEA’s recovery technology. The CO2 recovery will also make a significant contribution to Spendrups’ goal of reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 90% by 2030 (compared to 2019).
Energy recovery for more circularity
Beyond beverages
Today, GEA is expanding the application of its CO2 recovery plants to industrial ethanol production, as well as to cement, steel and glass manufacturing. “The fermentation process in ethanol production generates CO2 in much the same way as beer production, but on a much larger scale,” explains Straub. For heavy emitters such as cement factories, GEA has developed a set of modular carbon capture solutions that enable CO2 reduction in flue gases of more than 90%. Here, a similar CO2 recovery technology as used in breweries is responsible for purifying and liquefying the flue-gas CO2 before it can be reused or sequestered. “There’s a big push across industries to not only reduce carbon emissions, but also create value from CO2,” says Straub. “GEA’s background in everything from breweries, to emissions control, to carbon capture puts us in a good position to contribute to this new, circular carbon economy.”
