Scientists and Australian beer maker Foster's are teaming up to generate clean energy from brewery waste water — by using sugar-consuming bacteria.

The experimental technology was unveiled Wednesday by scientists at Australia's University of Queensland, which was given a $115,000 US state government grant to install a microbial fuel cell at a Foster's Group brewery near Brisbane, the capital of Queensland state.

A bottle of Foster's beer sits on a counter in a Sydney hotel in this file photo. Foster's Group is joining forces with the University of Queensland state to turn waste water into electricity.
(Mark Baker/Associated Press)

The fuel cell is essentially a battery in which bacteria consume water-soluble brewing waste such as sugar, starch and alcohol.

The battery produces electricity plus clean water, said Prof. Jurg Keller, the university's wastewater expert. The 2,500-litre fuel cell will be 250 times bigger than a prototype that has been operating effectively at the university laboratory for three months, Keller said.

"Brewery waste water is a particularly good source because it is very biodegradable … and is highly concentrated, which does help in improving the performance of the cell," Keller said.

He expected the brewery cell would produce two kilowatts of power — enough to power a household — and the technology would eventually be applied in other breweries and wineries owned by Foster's.

"It's not going to make an enormous amount of power — it's primarily a waste water treatment that has the added benefit of creating electricity," Keller said.