Carbon Dioxide crisis hits pubs in Essex
The shortage of commercial C02 has affected many industries, including hospitality.
The ongoing shortage of commercial carbon dioxide has caused disruptions in many industries, none more so than food and hospitality. The gas, which is used to stun livestock at abattoirs, store food safely, add the fizz in soft drinks and brew different kinds of alcoholic drinks, has been in short supply after the two main fertilizer plants in the UK shut down this week
For pubs and breweries in particular, carbon dioxide is used to transfer beer from the keg to the tap. It is also used to brew various spirits in varying quantities. Fergus Fitzgerald is the Production Director at Adnams, a Suffolk-based brewery and wine merchant with affiliate pubs in Essex. He explains to us that they are used to fluctuations in CO2 availability with a major shortfall occurring every few years. But this is the first time a plant that produces the gas has stopped operation.
He believes the primary problem comes from the fact that carbon dioxide is generated as a by-product in the fertilizer manufacturing process, not as the primary product itself. CF Fertillzers, an American company that runs plants in Cheshire and Teesside, shut down operations this week, owing to soaring global gas prices. As a result, carbon dioxide production ceased as well.
"The disruption is coming off the back of shortage in the summer anyway, owing to maintenance and break down issues that generally occur in summer time. So the supply was already at a low level, and then you come into the situation where you suddenly turn the supply off completely. The impact of this happens very immediately", says Mr. Fitzgerald
He adds that they are lucky that some of their suppliers procure CO2 from anaerobic digestion plants, rather than fertilizer plants meaning that some of their immediate needs are met. The UK Government also announced an emergency 3 week subsidy program which will allow one of the Fertilizer plants to resume production. The hope is that at the end of three weeks, the global gas prices will return to normal levels, thereby allowing both plants to function smoothly again.
But Mr. Fitzgerald is wary of such a short-term measure. "I think the government proposal of subsidising (CF Fertilizer's) production for three weeks doesn't give a lot of even short-term confidence. What happens in three weeks time if energy prices may well still be where they are now. Unless they can resolve those financial pressures, I suspect that we'll have this conversation again in three weeks."
He believes that the financial assistance must be extended and investment be made for the medium and long term to develop carbon capture technologies. "There is technology that helps brewers become almost self sufficient. Typically they are aimed at larger breweries and hasn't been scaled down to our size or smaller. Some incentives to develop technology that helps capture CO2 for reuse that is more suitable for our size needs to be pushed on", he adds.
So what can those who want a pint now expect?
Mr. Fitzgerald says they've had to use Nitrogen in lieu of carbon dioxide in some cases, while in the case of other drinks, they've had to reduce the amount of CO2 used. He also encourages pubs and patrons to drink cask beers, which do not require C02 in production or distribution.
"We wont run out of beer, it just might be a different sort of beer" he adds.