Article by Victor Dalum
Pure Project Brewing, known for its commitment to sustainability and innovation is a climate label certified brewery located in San Diego, California. Sustainability sits at the core of everything they do. Their work is guided by six focus areas: Reduce Impact, Clean & Restore, Protect & Conserve, Educate & Uplift, Promote Organic & Regenerative Agriculture, and Legislate for a Better Future. Together, these goals help protect the natural world for future generations.
This commitment recently caught the attention of CBS 8 San Diego. In a feature video, CBS 8 highlighted Pure Project’s newly installed DALUM CO2 recovery plant as a key step in reducing their environmental impact.
Fermentation produces a valuable byproduct: CO2. The biogenic CO2 that is simply being emitted to the atmosphere via blow off bucket isn’t a process that most craft breweries know can be changed to benefit them.
On average, every barrel of beer that is fermented will produce 8-24 lbs of CO2 depending on the plato or measurable amount of fermentable sugars that are being converted into ethanol. Compared to the benchmark standards of 8-10 lbs of CO2 usage per barrel of beer, majority of breweries’ fermentation process generates more than enough CO2 to cover their entire brewery usage.
There is a financial case for change. CO2 prices have risen 74.8% since 2020, and are still climbing (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PCU3251203251204). As a result, CO2 has become an increasingly large expense for breweries. On top of that, most industrial CO2 is a byproduct of other industries, like ethanol and ammonia production, oil refining, and geological sources. This has made supply volatile, with shortages and price spikes leaving some breweries unable to purchase CO2 at all.
For these reasons, Pure Project knew they needed a CO2 recovery plant of their own. They had to capture self-generated CO2, cut dependency on outside suppliers, and deliver a clear return on investment, all without disrupting their existing production setup.
DALUM Equipment installed its Craft 15 kg/hr CO2 recovery plant at Pure Project Brewing in early 2026. The system didn’t require an entirely new setup. Instead, it was paired with the brewery’s existing 6-ton storage tank and vaporizer, which Pure Project had purchased from their previous CO2 supplier. Together, this lets them cover 100% of the brewery’s CO2 needs. Learn what a CO2 Recovery Plant is.
“The DALUM CO2 Recovery Plant captures the CO2 that is produced during the fermentation process in the brewery, and then converting it, and sending it to our bulk CO2 tank. Now we can recapture it, keep it in a closed loop and use it where we need”. – Mat Robar Co-founder Pure Project Brewing
The Craft 15 kg/hr unit captures CO2 directly from fermentation, the same gas that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere. Once recovered, it’s purified, compressed, condensed into a liquid and stored for reuse in carbonation, packaging, and other brewery operations. This closes the loop on a resource Pure Project was already producing every day.
The solution lined up directly with Pure Project’s broader sustainability goals. It also fit naturally with their “1% for the Planet” partnership, since the partial funding for the project was approved through that initiative. Today, the brewery produces, captures, and reuses its own CO2 on-site, cutting reliance and cost from external suppliers entirely. Read more on why breweries should implement CO2 Recovery.
Since installing DALUM’s Craft 15 kg/hr CO2 recovery plant, Pure Project Brewing has achieved full CO2 self-sufficiency. The plant covers 100% of the brewery’s annual production needs. The financial results speak for themselves:
The environmental case is just as strong. According to a study from the University of Winnipeg, producing and transporting one ton of CO2 to a brewery emits roughly two tons of CO2. So every pound Pure Project recovers prevents roughly two pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. As a result, Pure Project will see:
“It ticks off a couple of boxes for us, hopefully the long-term savings, but also from the environmental side we are no longer releasing all that CO2, and then having to buy it all again from somebody else” – Mat Robar Co-founder Pure Project Brewing
Combined with their membership in “1% for the Planet” and their broader “beer for good” mission, the CO2 recovery plant is a clear example of how operational efficiency and environmental responsibility reinforce each other.
