Energy Farming

Matthew Chang (ChE)
Kalvin Huang (ChE)
Alice Lee (ChE)
Justin Tung (ChE)
Ubaidullah Hassan (ChE)
Anthony Napolitano (ChE)
Jacob Reich (ChE)
Zareena Al-Shehab (ChE)
James Aravena (ChE)
Jeremy Lugo (ChE)
Joseph Chico (ChE)
Stanley Hoang (ChE)
Andrew Kim (ChE)
Tausif Tamim (ChE)
Ryan Chowdhury (ChE)
Neha Nichakawade (ChE)
Rowen Sadlier (ChE)
Surinderpal Singh (ChE)
Selah Chou (ChE)
Christopher Ge (ChE)
Renee Ma (ChE)
Sivan Spiel (ChE)
Julian Lam (ChE)
Evelyn Schwartsman (ChE)
Arsha Uthairungsri (ChE)
Julius Yoh (ChE)

Advised by Professor Ben Davis

Our groups performed a conceptual design and techno-economic analysis of a manufacturing facility for contract production of 75,000 barrels of beer per year in New York State with a biochar co-product. The facility was designed with overall sustainability in mind, considering the cultural, social equity, technical, economic, and environmental impacts of the brewery and biochar product over their entire lifecycle. Brewer’s Spent Grain (BSG) is the largest solid byproduct generated from beer, accounting for approximately 85% by weight of the waste produced; landfill of BSG leads to environmental concerns such as methane emissions and the economic and environmental costs incurred for storage and transportation. Instead of being treated as waste or fed to animals, BSG can be a feedstock for creating biochar which is useful as a soil amendment (terra preta has been made in this way for thousands of years.) Biochar is created by heating dry biomass in the absence of oxygen – this pyrolysis also creates co-products like a bio-syngas and bio-oil which must be utilized or avoided to reduce environmental impact.