Planning Proposal: Exploiting Brewery Waste for Soil Management in Organic Agriculture

Project Director

Sarah C. Davis


Year Funded

2019


Award Number

2019-51300-30257


Funded Institution

Ohio State University


Grant Program

OREI (Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative)


USDA NIFA Report (alternate)

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Project Overview

Brewery waste poses a management challenge for microbreweries, yet it contains nutrients and organic carbon that can benefit soil health and fertility. Microbreweries located in resource-limited communities such as Appalachian region of southeast Ohio can help aspiring organic farmers overcome financial and technical barriers to become USDA certified organic. This planning project explored the technological, regulatory, and socio-economic opportunities and challenges of processing brewery waste by anaerobic digestion (AD) to yield biogas energy and digestate residue suitable for use as an organic soil amendment.

Farmer Takeaways

(1) Locally generated brewery waste can provide nutrients and organic matter to build soil health and fertility.
(2) Additional research and development is needed to address handling and processing challenges.
(3) Unprocessed brewery waste could be an ingredient for on-farm composting.
(4) Organic farmers should check with their certifier before utilizing brewery waste .

Project Outputs

Herman, T., Nungesser, E., Miller, K. E., & Davis, S. C. (2022). Comparative Fuel Yield from Anaerobic Digestion of Emerging Waste in Food and Brewery Systems. Energies, 15(4), 1538.

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