CO2 Usage in an Old Application, with a New Twist in an Ever-Growing Spiked Beverage Market

by Sam A. Rushing (Advanced Cryogenics, Ltd./Biofuels Digest) New markets are opening, and competition is heating up over carbonating more than the traditional Coca – Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper – Snapple, and many private labels of purely soft drinks. The rise, and rapid growth of hard seltzers is impressive. The merchant CO2 industry prides itself on developing new and unique applications for the product. Over the last decade or so, uses including CO2 ‘blast cleaning’ appeared, which uses small rice-sized dry ice under pressure to clean surfaces from precision electronics, to ship hulls. Other newer applications include strengthening concrete and sequestering CO2 within the application of CO2 into concrete – thus enhancing the strength and calcium carbonate content. With the spotlight on a growing cannabis industry, both enhanced photosynthesis in greenhouses and on the vine use CO2; and the use of CO2 under pressure for supercritical extraction of CBD oil are growing. All of which is relevant to specialty drinks often carbonated, along with CBD oil.

On the subject of beverage carbonation, this use is old, dating back to the early Coca – Cola days and remaining critical in the production of carbonated soft drinks. The use of CO2 in soft drink and beer carbonation has been flat to a modest growth for some years; which represents an important, but smaller portion of the overall CO2 merchant market.

The table below summarizes the demand for merchant CO2 domestically.

Application                               Approximate percentage of merchant market

Food chilling, freezing                           50%

Beverage carbonation                           20%

Industrial uses                                      30%

The approximate use of CO2 in the beverage sector has typically ranged from 17 to 20% of the entire merchant market. Such merchant market data does not include large captive demands for CO2 in the manufacture of some industrial chemicals such as urea, and the use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Most of us have noticed the rather explosive growth of new carbonated drink products, including flavored, unflavored water products, carbonated alcoholic and seltzer products; and carbonated CBD infused drinks. This growth of additional brand names and product types continues.

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THE ISSUE OF CO2 QUALITY IS ALWAYS THERE

Quality is a major issue for the CO2 beverage sector; where in some cases, this quality standard is among the most stringent in the industry, with respect to applications of the product in food and beverage markets. Organizations such as the CGA (compressed Gas Association), ISBT (International Society of Beverage Technologists), and the EIGA (European Industrial Gases Association), have strict standards for CO2 which is added to beverage products. Clearly, when the beverage industry expands into craft beverages, hard seltzers, CBD drinks, and more, the same beverage grade CO2 will be used for such beverage carbonation; thus be extension, the demand for quality.

THE CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS AHEAD

For the carbonated beverage industry, we will have to cope with the Covid – culture which has emerged every day, including a reduction of consumption in restaurants and bars. The significant explosion of hard seltzers, and other products discussed in this piece, which are sold in the stores for non – hospitality consumption, can only help replace some of the losses suffered in bars and restaurants, due to Covid.

There is also the issue of CO2 shortages, driven by factors precipitated by the Covid economy. There are statistics all over the place, however, it is clear that hard seltzers have far outpaced beer in 2020, and as long as the hospitality industry remains closed or impaired, this trend should continue. Logically, as the hard seltzer market continues to grow, and when the economy opens up, when there should be a post – Covid climate, these beverages will be served within the hospitality industry as well; thus growth should continue on all fronts for non-alcoholic, hard seltzer, and CBD products. The CO2 industry will enjoy whatever markets which they serve with respect to beverages. READ MORE