WINE & BREW BREWERY WASTEWATER INTO ENERGY: A fungus that can grow in ordinary brewery wastewater and then be turned into ‘green’ battery electrodes has been patented in the United States. Neurospora crassa fungal spores have been added to ordinary brewery wastewater and, after shaken and heated for two days, grow within the sugar-rich water, according to researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder. Breweries go through around seven barrels of water for every barrel of beer produced and the wastewater can’t be dumped...with the resulting filtering procedure a costly expense. Study co-authors Tyler Huggins and Justin Whiteley, who have established the startup company Emergy to develop their idea further, say the fungus is subsequently filtered out and baked at 800 degrees Celcius until charred. “The resulting carbon-rich material can be used to produce one of the most efficient naturally-derived lithium-ion battery electrodes known to date,” they say. If scaled up to a commercial level, the process could provide battery manufacturers with a ready-made incubating medium for the fungus, while reducing the amount of wastewater that brewers have to treat. 40 NOVEMBER 2016 SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED: An intelligent icecube containing a Bluetooth beacon and sensor that not only cools beverages but also orders the next one for consumers has been unveiled by Martini. At the recent Italian Grand Prix, the Smart Cube was introduced at a pop-up bar, and showed how it could detect when a glass is empty, triggering an automatic reorder and enabling bar staff to quickly locate whose drink requires replacement. Each Smart Cube emits a unique colour combination of LED light, and contains built-in capacitive liquid sensors, a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon, an antenna, two watch batteries, an on-board processor and LED lights. The technology is based on Apple’s iBeacon software, using two liquid sensors to recognise when they are no longer submerged, and Aerogel (built by NASA) so the cube temperature is kept cool and buoyant. Each cube has its own unique pulsing colour combination, so everyone knows exactly which Martini & tonic is theirs. In future, the Smart Cube might track alcohol consumption and alert drinkers to any tampering. BEER USING GREY WATER: A Californian drought has seen Americans doing their bit to combat water shortages by drinking beer made with recycled water. A brewery in San Francisco has started brewing beers with recycled grey water – taken from treated water initially used in sinks and showers – and the idea is causing a stir in the market. Half Moon Bay Brewing was approached by architect and keen beer consumer Russ Drinker last year, and the grey water Mavericks Tunnel Vision IPA born soon after relies on NASA’s water-recycling system, using the same technology astronaut Scott Kelly used to make coffee from his sweat and urine while on the International Space Station. A tasting panel could not detect the difference between a version of the beer made with recycled water and the normal version, Drinker says. “If Californians really want to have an impact on our water use, we have to recycle our freshwater... and get over our psychological resistance to that,” he says. The beer, which is not yet commercially available, is currently illegal, as taking treated recycled water back into the drinking water supply is not allowed. NEWS GRABS
FT-Nov16
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