When beer ferments, the interaction of yeast and sugars produces carbon dioxide, which is partly responsible for climate change. The gas enters the air as a waste byproduct – unless it’s captured.

Breweries also buy carbon dioxide in tanks, and it’s not cheap. The gas is pumped into bottled, canned or draft beer to produce carbonization. Breweries also use carbon dioxide to force oxygen out of beer packaging, where it can spoil the beer over time. (Fermentation also produces alcohol as a byproduct, but that compound is eventually captured by the consumer).

Enter Earthly Labs. The Austin, Texas-based startup was founded in 2018 to provide carbon capture technology to microbreweries.

“The technology in general has been around for a long time,” said Dave Kroening, co-founder of Buoy Beer Co. in Astoria. “It was common for large breweries to have it.”

Buoy Beer Co. recently purchased an Earthly Labs system. In a smaller, less costly package, Kroening said, carbon capture “suddenly becomes very doable.”

Political pressure is increasing on all industries – including construction – to reduce carbon emissions. A major cap-and-trade scheme has been halted in the Oregon Legislature by Republican walkouts.

Meanwhile, there are some solutions brewing for the private sector. Canadian company CarbonCure has devised technology to inject carbon dioxide into concrete mixes, reducing the amount of concrete needed for projects. That technology has already been put to use in the Portland-metro area.

Double Mountain Brewery & Cidery, meanwhile, is believed to be the first brewery to Oregon to install a small-scale carbon capture machine. The Hood River business got its Earthly Labs equipment up and running in January.

Buoy Beer Co. has followed suit, ordering its own machine, though it has not yet been installed. Kroening said he expects it’ll be operational sometime in July.

Besides the environmental benefits of capturing carbon, the breweries’ owners were persuaded by the return on investment. Produced carbon dioxide is scarce nationwide, and suppliers have raised prices.

“We’ve been getting some rather frightening letters from our supplier telling us they’re going to triple our prices – if they can get us CO₂ at all,” said Matt Swihart, owner and brewer of Double Mountain.

Earthly Labs’ CiCi machines arrive on a few pallets. The main box can be plugged in. A hose runs from the bottom of what would be a blow-off bucket on a fermenting tank to the box, which purifies the carbon dioxide for beverage-grade use.

“It’s a better product, and it’s obviously reducing CO₂ emissions and saving us costs, because we’re not having to purchase this raw material,” Kroening said.

The CiCi system, featuring patented technology, costs roughly $75,000 to $100,000, depending on components and options. Swihart said he expects Double Mountain’s machine to pay for itself in three to four years.

Amy George, Earthly Labs’ CEO, founded the company after observing carbon capture in the energy industry. The company is organized as a public benefit corporation.

“My vision has been to create businesses that address environmental problems with market-driven solutions,” she said.

The CiCi machine purchased by Double Mountain and Buoy is called the Oak. Two other models named Teak and Elm are in development for smaller and larger breweries, respectively.

With increased costs for carbon dioxide affecting brewery owners, some are talking to George.

“We’re seeing more interest,” she said.

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The ability to inject carbon dioxide into concrete has existed for decades. But only within the past decade have parties begun to engage in such efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

Now, Vancouver, British Columbia-based CarbonCure has brought its carbon-sequestering technology to the Troutdale production plant of national concrete producer Knife River. Proprietary technology is used to inject recycled carbon dioxide into a given concrete mix, reducing the cement content correspondingly.

Following production of several test batches, the first field-grade batch of CarbonCure concrete was poured in February at Portland International Airport as part of the Port of Portland‘s Parking Additions and Consolidated Rental Car Facility (PACR) project. It’s being tackled by general contractor JE Dunn Construction.

“The Port was interested in what can we do that would be green on their project,” said Scott Thayer, project manager for Portland firm Yost Grube Hall Architecture, which designed the project. “The whole point of this is to reduce the cement content in the concrete. It’s one of the most carbon-intensive products in the world, especially in the amounts it is used and its prevalence in the world of construction. What’s beautiful about carbon is it’s a perfect substitute for the cement. It has similar strength-enhancing properties in the concrete mix.”

Yukari Kubo, a design professional with YGH and co-chair of the firm’s sustainability committee, said the key to getting a large manufacturer like Knife River to jump on board was to specify use of CarbonCure.

“It takes the architects to specify it and bring it to the attention of the client,” she said. “Out here it just didn’t exist.”

After calling concrete manufacturers on the East Coast, where CarbonCure has made more inroads, however, it was like talking to company representatives, she said.

“The only reason they don’t use it on every project is that the architects don’t specify it,” she said. “It’s a superior product.”

The technology is a little more than 10 years old, said Kevin Davis, CarbonCure’s Pacific Northwest representative. But it has begun to enter the industry only in the past several years.

“We’ve been focusing on the concrete producers for the last four years, so people like Knife River are the type of firms we deal with,” Davis said. “They supply a lot of concrete, and it makes a lot of sense.”

CarbonCure uses processed industrial carbon dioxide captured at a British Petroleum oil refinery in Blaine, Washington.

“It’s the same as is used in soft drinks and beer,” Davis said. “It’s readily available, and we’ve developed a technology that injects it into concrete, recalcifies the cement and allows use of less cement and makes it stronger. It just takes a little bit of software and technology to implement.”

Because the carbon dioxide replaces cement – the most costly ingredient of concrete – in a mix, the aggregate cost is reduced accordingly.

As climate change continues to gain attention, the technology is expected to attract interest, said Kelly Alexander, ready mix manager for Knife River’s Metro Division, which operates the Troutdale plant.

“We try and work with people like that to get the message out there,” he said. “So it’s our hope this won’t be the last Knife River plant we do, or the last in Portland. We make 3.8 million cubic yards a year, so there’s a tremendous opportunity to address most of this. We have the ability to impact production significantly across the state.”

Alexander said YGH approached Knife River last year, made its interest in CarbonCure known and got the process rolling. By the time Knife River put in a tender for the concrete on the project, CarbonCure technology had been specified for bidders.

“We tend to get the technology integrated,” he said. “Sometimes producers come to us proactively, and the other way is when someone like YGH specifies it into a project.”

So far, San Francisco is a very strong market for the new technology, as well as cities on the East Coast.

“In general, yes, the coasts are good,” Alexander said. “But we have a strong Midwest presence in Chicago, and we have pockets of business that tend to be around producers that have that sustainability message, and sometimes it doesn’t matter where they are.”

Davis was on hand in Troutdale in February to oversee installation of CarbonCure’s technology at Knife River’s plant, as well as the first pours of footings and pile caps featuring the new mixes.

“We’ll take a standard mix that Knife River has and add CO2 to that directly,” Davis said.

The company’s experience has shown the injection of carbon dioxide directly into a mix increases its strength by roughly 10 to 12 percent. But that’s only part of the equation.

“They need concrete that’s delivered to specs, not necessarily stronger, so we reduce the amount of cement to allow them to achieve their PSI figure,” Davis said. “It achieves the design strength with less cement, and that’s what gives us the carbon reduction.”

That’s the concept in a nutshell.

“The fact this hasn’t become the norm more quickly is a little bit surprising to me because it’s such a clear win,” Thayer said.

It’s a huge advance for the entire industry, Kubo added.

“All of the concrete manufacturers I spoke with on the East Coast were not charging any extra for it on any of their projects,” she said. “It is a fantastic technology and a game changer for our industry in terms of embodied carbon, which is what YGH is really focused on right now.”

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