Beer Drinking Good For The Planet?
A short article in a recent issue of New Scientist (Vol.191/No.2563) may put a smile on the faces of more than a few environmentalist beer drinkers out there.
Researchers at Kobe Pharmaceutical University in Japan have shown that beer bran (a by-product of the brewing process) can be used to clean polluted water.
Activated carbon, an often-used pollution filter material, is expensive and requires a great deal of energy to make (involves heating coal to 900 degrees Celsius).
In contrast, beer bran (readily available wherever beer is brewed), is as much as 100 times cheaper. It certainly never hurts when the environmentally-responsible choice is also a lot cheaper!!
In terms of efficency, beer bran has been found to adsorb benzene and trichloroethylene (two ubiquitous environmental pollutants) at an efficiency of 76.2 and 92.5%, respectively. With similar efficiencies across wide a pH range, beer bran’s future as a pollution fighter certainly looks promising!
I always knew my love of fine ales would some day prove to serve a higher purpose!
Cheers to that!
B.
Written by Bentley on August 20th, 2006 with
no comments.
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