(Courtesy Young Henrys)

Like all breweries, when Newtown, Australia’s Young Henrys ferments its beer, carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere. In fact the CO2 produced from fermenting just one six-pack of beer would take a tree, (which can transform carbon dioxide into oxygen) two days to absorb.

Scientists believe algae’s ability to consume CO2 and release oxygen could change this.

And Young Henrys signed on to test its capacity by funneling the additional carbon dioxide produced by the brewing process through an algae bioreactor attached to the fermentation tank that transitions the gas into oxygen.

“Algae, a photosynthetic organism, are often seen as a nuisance because they can cause red tide—a toxic algal bloom —or infect local water sources,” according to EcoWatch.

But Algae can be five times more effective at absorbing carbon than trees so this experimental process at Young Henrys could change everything.

As algae feeds on the C02, the algae bag attached to the fermentation tank deepens in color. And every two to three weeks, university scientists return to the brewery to replace the bag and add the algae organism.

“One 400-litre bag can produce as much oxygen as one hectare of Australian bush, so it can actually clean up a lot and provide a lot cleaner air,” University of Technology Sydney research associate Leen Labeeuw, told the New Daily…

“People are coming through and they’re asking: ‘What is this thing? What’s the growing green tube you’ve got in the brewery?” Young Henry co-founder Oscar McMahon noted.

“In sci-fi movies, where they’re growing an alien embryo in, like, a big test tube – it kind of looks like that,” Young Henrys Head Brewer Jesse Searls added.

Scientists believe an expansion of this project could positively impact climate change and that’s a step forward for breweries that want to better the environment…

“We’re actually counteracting part of what we are putting out into the atmosphere and that’s really exciting,” McMahon added.