Mexico Tequila Maker Has a Shot at Turning Agave Waste into Fuel

by Sophie Hares (Reuters) One of Mexico's most famous tequila companies, Herradura, hopes to turn into fuel the thousands of tonnes of waste it generates each year from the spiky blue agave plants used to make the spirit, and cut its energy bill, said its engineering director.

Herradura, Mexico’s second-biggest tequila company behind Jose Cuervo, says that by drying out the 150 tonnes of fibrous agave waste it generates per day and turning it into biomass to fire up the huge boilers it uses to steam the plant, it could potentially generate 30 percent of the energy it needs.

“Simply, we have to squeeze out the water to recycle it and use it as a fuel,” said Guillermo Rodelo, director of engineering at Herradura’s plant in Amatitán, a few miles from the colonial town of Tequila in Jalisco state.

Herradura has already shaved its energy bill by converting the residues known as stillage from its tequila-making process into biogas, which now provides about 20 percent of the energy used by the company, he explained. READ MORE and MORE (Yucatan Times)