Boozy Biofuel: Tequila Byproducts Can Be Used for Methane and Hydrogen Production, New Study Finds
One of many “blue agave” fields that line the roadsides in El Arenal, Jalisco state, Mexico. June 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Refugio Ruiz)
In 1963, Chrysler debuted an experimental turbine car at the New York World’s Fair that could supposedly run on anything flammable; brand representatives frequently boasted hairspray, perfume, peanut oil and more. The coupe was eventually taken down to Mexico, where President Adolfo Mateos famously pumped it with 80-proof tequila and drove it around a track.
Only 55 models of the would-be agave automobile were ever produced, confined nowadays to museums and high-end car collections. Unless you’re Jay Leno (owner of one of the last six), tequila likely won’t be going into your fuel tank anytime soon.
Half a century later, researchers at Mexico’s National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies have discovered a hitch that would allow tequila — or at least, tequila leftovers — to be used as biogas. The journey began with samples collected from Jalisco’s Herradura distillery.
Brown Forman’s Herradura distillery. (Photo: Herradura)
“Several studies have focused on the treatment of tequila vinasses to reduce its environmental impact and to take advantage of the use of its components,” wrote scientists in the study.
Vinasse — a byproduct of sugar and alcohol processing — is an acid-rich compound commonly used in fertilizers and methane gas production. While some harness it as a scientific utility, others use it to push the boundaries of booze. Rum vinasses, known as “dunder,” are lauded as the secret ingredient of Jamaican spirits production.
“Vinasses can be used to obtain metabolites and bioenergy such as biohydrogen and biogas […] For instance, fruit peels and spent mushroom substrate, which are liberated in tremendous amounts have been transformed via AD (anaerobic digestion) into digestate that can be reused in sustainable plant production,” continued researchers.
Combined with carbohydrates, researchers found that these tequila byproducts yielded significant amounts of hydrogen and methane. Scaled to an industrial level, the gas could be used to power vehicles, make heat, generate electricity and more.
As tequila balloons in popularity year after year, questions of sustainability have reared their head the industry over. Though agave is a low-water crop compared to rice or grapes, the development of a monoculture across the fields of Mexico has posed a potential danger to the environment (and the agave-feeding bats that inhabit it).
“Rather than dispose of our tequila production waste in landfills, the team, overseen by Civil Engineer Martha Jiménez Cardoso, combines spent agave fibers (bagazo) with earth and liquid runoff from distillation (vinasa) to create Adobe bricks,” says Astral Tequila. (Photo: Astral)
Some brands are making the most of the madness. Over the past two years, Astral Tequila and 818 have each launched their own Bricks Program, in which spent agave fibers are upcycled into construction materials for local housing. If research yields promising results, energy production may soon join the menu as well.
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