Yakima Chief Hops Installs Custom CO2 Recovery System, Reducing Carbon Footprint

From Yakima Chief Hops:

YAKIMA, WA , Dec. 14, 2021 – Yakima Chief Hops (YCH), a 100% grower-owned hop supplier for the brewing industry, has completed the installment of a CO2 recovery system within their extract production facility to reduce their environmental impact.

Owned by 15 hop growers in the Pacific Northwest, YCH has a deep appreciation for the land that has sustained their crop and supported their families for generations. YCH is passionate about promoting sustainability and preserving the planet so that farmers can continue growing quality hops and brewers can keep making great beer.

One of the products that YCH offers is CO2 Hop Extract, produced using a supercritical CO2 process which extracts soft resins and essential oils contained in hops. The extraction process, however, requires large volumes of CO2.

Collaborating with breweries that utilize CO2 recovery systems, YCH worked to discover how it would translate into the complex extraction process. They partnered with ICC and Hypro to engineer, design and implement a customized system. This required months of troubleshooting and working with engineers to improve efficiency. YCH is now able to recover, clean and reuse much of the CO2 used to produce hop extract.

“Currently we are capturing more than five metric tons a day of CO2 and redirecting the CO2 liquid back into our extraction system for further use,” said Levi Wyatt, YCH’s Social Corporate Responsibility Coordinator. “This reduces the amount of CO2 emissions from our extract facility by greater than 50%.”

This not only reduces YCH’s greenhouse gas emissions, but also reduces operational expenses, as they now purchase less CO2 from an outside supplier. YCH continues to work towards decreasing their dependence on natural resources and finding new ways to do their part in preserving the planet.

Learn more about YCH’s sustainability initiatives at www.yakimachief.com/corporate-social-responsibility/

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Yakima Chief Hops

YCH is a 100% grower-owned global hop supplier with a mission to connect brewers with family hop farms. Operating for more than 30 years, we have become more than a hop supplier. We are leaders of innovation, quality and customer service. We are a resource for brewers, providing solutions-based products and industry leading research. We are advocates of sustainability and meaningful social causes, working to support the environment and communities around us. https://www.yakimachief.com/