German engineers have found a greener way of brewing amber nectar.

    Scientists at the Technische Universitaet in Munich （home of the Oktoberfest beer festival） are creating a new brewing process that could cut down on the amount of energy needed to produce beer.

    For more than a hundred years, the brewing process has involved boiling giant kettles to temperatures of upto 160C to boil down 'crude beer' or wort. The scientists say that about 45 per cent of the energy consumed by breweries is used for this process.

    Instead the Bavarian team have adapted an approach using combined heat and power stations, which harness the heat produced during power generation. The technique had already been tried, but on its own it couldn't heat the kettles to the necessary temperature. The new system combines the CHP station with what the TU München scientists call a 'zeolite storage system'.

    This consists of thousands of zeolite spheres, two to three millimetersp in diameter. "These porous pellets are made of silicate minerals and have excellent heat storage properties," the team reports. "One gram of zeolite has an internal surface of about 500 square meters."

    When zeolite that has been soaked in water is heated, the spheres dry up, charging up the system. Once water is added again, the zeolite spheres release heat of up to 250C, according to the researchers.

    On its own, the combined heat and power （CHP） station can achieve temperatures of 90C, but this thermal-chemical process boosts it to the levels needed for brewing.

    Dr Winfried Russ, the project leader, says: "At night a medium-sized brewery needs little energy. In this time we can feed unused heat from the CHP station into the zeolite storage system." When the heat is needed the next day, the brewers can just hit a button and get the heat boost they need."

    The system has been tested using simulations and now real-world tests are underway. Russ is eager to see the results: "We already know that it will work. What we don't know is just how much energy can be saved."

    The technology will be on display at the Drinktec 2009 trade fair in Munich from September 14 to 19.

    德國(guó)工程師們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種更為綠色的釀造琥珀色甜美飲料的方法。

    慕尼黑（慕尼黑啤酒節(jié)的家園）技術(shù)學(xué)院的科學(xué)家們正在創(chuàng)造一種新的釀造工藝，可以減少生產(chǎn)啤酒所需要的能量。

    一百多年來(lái)，老的啤酒釀造工藝涉及到溫度高達(dá) 160C 的大型蒸煮釜， 它們被用來(lái)煮濃'粗啤酒'或者麥芽汁。科學(xué)家們說(shuō)，釀酒廠(chǎng)消耗的能量的大約 45% 用于這一過(guò)程。

    作為替代，這個(gè)巴伐利亞的小組改變途徑，利用熱電聯(lián)產(chǎn)的電廠(chǎng)，采用發(fā)電過(guò)程中產(chǎn)生的熱作為動(dòng)力。這項(xiàng)技術(shù)已經(jīng)試用過(guò)，但是靠它本身不能把大釜加熱到所需的溫度。新的系統(tǒng)是將 CHP（熱電聯(lián)合） 電廠(chǎng)與慕尼黑科學(xué)家稱(chēng)之為"沸石貯熱系統(tǒng)"的系統(tǒng)結(jié)合起來(lái)。

    這樣的系統(tǒng)由成千上萬(wàn)直徑兩到三毫米的沸石球組成。"這些多孔的球是由硅酸鹽礦物制成的，并且具有優(yōu)良的貯熱性能，"該小組報(bào)告說(shuō)。"一克沸石具有大約 500 平方米的內(nèi)部表面。"

    根據(jù)研究人員們的說(shuō)法，當(dāng)在水里浸泡過(guò)的沸石被加熱時(shí)，球體變干，將它們添加到系統(tǒng)中。再次加水，沸石球釋放熱量，使溫度升高到 250C.

    熱電聯(lián)產(chǎn)（CHP）電廠(chǎng)自身可以達(dá)到 90C 的溫度，而這個(gè)熱化學(xué)過(guò)程把它推進(jìn)，達(dá)到釀造所需要的水平。

    這個(gè)項(xiàng)目的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者溫弗里德 拉斯博士說(shuō)："在夜里，一個(gè)中等大小的釀酒廠(chǎng)需要一點(diǎn)能量。在這個(gè)時(shí)候，我們可以從 CHP 電廠(chǎng)將不使用的熱量提供給沸石貯熱系統(tǒng)。"當(dāng)在下一天需要熱量的時(shí)候，啤酒可以只按一下按鈕，就能得到他們所需要的熱量增加。"

    這個(gè)系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)采用模擬仿真測(cè)試過(guò)，現(xiàn)在正在進(jìn)行實(shí)際測(cè)試。拉斯渴望看結(jié)果，他說(shuō)："我們已經(jīng)知道它會(huì)奏效。我們所不知道的是到底能夠節(jié)省下來(lái)多少能量。"

    這項(xiàng)技術(shù)將在慕尼黑從 9 月 14 日到 19 日的 《2009 年 Drinktec（飲料技術(shù)）貿(mào)易展覽會(huì)》上展出。