Molson Coors Brewery | The environment tastes much better

If proof were needed that protecting the environment is profitable, the brand new Molson Coors brewery in Longueuil is full of it. This fully automated plant was an opportunity to increase production while reducing the ecological footprint. The result: it emits half as many greenhouse gases as the old brewery on Notre-Dame Street. Here are some of the ingredients of the recipe, with a guided tour.

Heritage and yeast

Well before arriving at the Molson Coors brewery, on the Route de l’Aéroport in Longueuil, you can see the famous mythical clock from afar, a replica of the one that has adorned the old brewery on Rue Notre-Dame since 1950. A funny detail: it displays the wrong time, half an hour ahead.

“We’re waiting for repairs,” says Tim Crease, the brewery’s general manager, a little embarrassed. “But it was important for our heritage to bring in some of the old brewery. We also have some equipment, some historical pieces.”

One of these unexpected “pieces” is yeast. An important revelation will be made after an hour of tour: this ingredient has technically been the same for 238 years. “Our yeast is our protected secret, it’s been the same in a straight line, without interruption, since 1786,” explains Valérie Fraser, master brewer and packaging director.

Seven floors less

At the time of the move in 2021, the old brewery was a veritable labyrinth built one piece at a time and spanning eight floors. From grain reception to bottling, the production process followed a path that sometimes defied logic, going up and down in a less than optimal way. “It was sometimes surprising, the path used,” summarizes François Lefebvre, regional director, public and government affairs. “The plant needed to be modernized, but we were at the limit of what could be done,” says Mr. Crease.

Everything was brought down to a single level in Longueuil, on a huge 6 million square foot site where the sections follow one another logically according to the production stages. The brewery itself has a surface area of ​​850,000 square feet, “50 National League rinks,” says the general manager. “Everything was built with the goal of having a modern plant, ready for the future. It’s much more condensed to be as efficient as possible, with less piping and wiring.”

The cost of water

One of the most important aspects of brewing is obviously the water, which here comes from the Longueuil distribution network. This water is treated with ultraviolet rays, filtered and chlorinated to ensure a standard taste for the approximately 150 million litres of beer and malt beverages produced last year in Longueuil, out of a capacity of 230 million.

Overall, Mr. Lefebvre says, water consumption has dropped “by 40 to 45%” since the move. We have gone below the ratio that was at the time of 5 hectoliters of water per hectoliter of product, and the “ambition is to go below the bar of 3 hectoliters of water per hectoliter in the years to come,” he announces.

Wastewater treatment offers an interesting opportunity: to use the biogas emitted by the treatment plant, before discharge into the city’s sewer system. “We are still in the study phase, it is a continuous improvement,” says Mr. Lefebvre.

Automation and Hydro Billing

It took about ten minutes during the visit of The Press on the factory floor to see the first employee appear. Everything, or almost everything, is automated here and supervised from control rooms set back from the production line. It feels more like being in a laboratory than in a traditional factory.

“The building control, the air changes, the air conditioning, everything is controlled by computer to make sure it’s as energy efficient as possible,” says Tim Crease. Here too, as with water, the electricity savings are estimated at 40%. Another example of optimization: while the old tanks were grouped together in a huge cold room, the new tanks now each have their own cooling system. The last ones, just before bottling, don’t even have one.

With all this automation, what do the 420 workers, a quarter of whom are women, do? Mr. Crease smiles. “It’s like Formula 1: you need a quality driver to drive it.” […] We have our own electricians, plumbers, lab technicians, we’re like a small, self-sufficient town.”

Towards zero waste

Everything in this factory is designed with recovery in mind. CO₂ produced during fermentation is thus reused in the packaging and brewing stages, the heat emitted by the chimneys and the cooling compressors is reinjected to heat the water.

As for the brewing residues, the spent grain, they are resold “100%” to local producers, who use them in particular for pig feed, explains François Lefebvre.

Ultimately, very little waste comes out of this brewery, he rejoices, barely 0.8% going to landfills. “We’re aiming for zero waste very soon.”

Greenhouse gas emissions are correspondingly high: 13,900 tonnes of CO equivalent₂ In 2020, we reached 7,400 tonnes last year, a notable reduction of 47%. “We have a target of 6,000 tonnes by the end of 2024,” says the regional director.