Newspaper reports Coors is selling ethanol created from beer production waste.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Believe it or not, your car could be fueled by beer
According to a news report in Monday's Denver Post, Coors Brewing Co. uses waste from the beer production process to produce approximately 1.5 million gallons of ethanol, which is then sold in the wholesale market.
Coors, which partners with area engineering firm Merrick & Company to produce the alternative fuel, said they plan to build another ethanol facility due to the success of the program, according to the paper.
"We've basically taken a waste stream and turned it into a revenue stream," Steven Wagner, the Merrick vice president who oversees the ethanol project, told the paper.
The demand for ethanol, a gasoline substitute, is at an all-time high in the U.S., the Post reported, as the country has faced rising energy costs, particularly gasoline.
The process involves taking the beer waste and putting it through a two-hour refining process that leaves behind 200-proof ethanol, according to the paper. After being mixed with gasoline, the resulting fuel is then shipped out to various gas stations in the region.
The Post cited recent criticisms of ethanol, which claim that the production of the fuel ends up expending more energy than it creates and that it is not fuel efficient.
The second facility, which will double Coors' ethanol production, will transform into ethanol the millions of gallons of byproduct from such brands as Coors and George Killian's Irish Red, according to the paper.
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