A technology that originated as part of NASA’s plans to extract resources from Mars has helped address a practical problem in the beverage industry: recovering carbon dioxide produced by fermentation and purifying it for reuse in carbonating and packaging products. This comes at a time when shortages and volatility in carbon dioxide supplies have increased companies’ interest in local recovery solutions.
The need for this technology emerged at Maine Beer Company in 2021, when it faced a shortage from its supplier. Dave Love, the company’s sustainability manager, said that a continued shortage could have threatened the beer’s viability in the tanks, as well as disrupted bottling and kegging operations and the use of centrifuges.
From Mars Resources to Breweries
Since the 1990s, Pioneer Astronautics has received several contracts under the Small Business Innovation Research program from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to develop systems capable of producing resources from the Martian environment. The concept involved capturing carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere and combining it with hydrogen to produce water to support life and methane as rocket fuel.
Although the basic principles were not entirely new, Pioneer’s systems were distinguished by their compact design, efficiency, and automated operation. The company’s founder, Robert Zubrin, later rearranged their components through Pioneer Energy to develop applications for the oil and gas industry, then realized that the carbon dioxide capture and purification system could be adapted for breweries.
The Craft Brewery Recovery System entered production by 2015, before the company offered the technology for licensing. In 2016, Amy George founded Earthly Labs in Austin, Texas, to develop small-scale carbon capture solutions, and obtained an exclusive license for the system.
Expanding Use Beyond the Beverage Sector
Use did not stop at breweries. Earthly Labs expanded its activities to wineries and distilleries, then discovered additional markets. Energy companies that produce carbon dioxide as a byproduct can capture and sell it instead of releasing it or purchasing additional quantities, and several companies in this sector became customers of the technology.
The technology is also used in helium production. Underground helium reserves are found mixed with other gases, including methane and carbon dioxide, requiring separation before they can be utilized. Helium is used in applications including chip manufacturing and fiber-optic cables.
What Changed in Practice?
This case illustrates the value of transferring space technologies to industrial applications on Earth: a complete system designed for Mars was not moved into a brewery; instead, compact and automated subsystems were rearranged to suit a different commercial problem. The practical benefit is reduced reliance on external carbon dioxide supplies, while enabling the recovered gas to be used in production processes.
In 2021, Chart Industries Inc. acquired Earthly Labs. Chart specializes in cryogenic equipment engineering and helped expand the technology’s scope to applications such as power plants. The source does not specify the amount of financial savings or emissions reductions resulting from each application, nor does it provide quantitative data on the systems’ efficiency or payback period; therefore, the economic and environmental benefits remain variable depending on the sector and facility size.