Cars in NZ Are Running on Beer-Flavoured Petrol

New Zealand brewers DB Export have turned their leftover slurry of yeast and grain into a biofuel. Brewtroleum is available for a limited time at Gull petrol stations throughout the country.

One of the leftovers of the brewing process is the yeast that didn’t get used in the fermentation process, Popular Science reports. This yeast can be re-used to create more alcohol (aka ethanol), which can then get distilled and refined into an ethanol version that is of a high enough quality to put in your petrol tank.

Brewtroleum is a blend of 90 per cent gasoline and 10 per cent beer-derived ethanol. It is a fuel that creates up to 8 per cent less carbon dioxide.

The people who came up with this idea only started thinking about it in February of this year. If all goes well, they might extend the lifetime of the product. Creating a cleaner fuel from leftover beer reduces waste, and reduces gasoline usage. We can all drink to that.

Original article by Mary Beth Griggs, Popular Science, July 31, 2015.