Posing in front of a poster detailing the Carbo Rock-It schematics while enjoying a seltzer that I carbonated with the Carbo Rock-It

Author: Devyn Meyer | Majors: Biological Engineering

My name is Devyn Meyer and I am a senior majoring in biological and agricultural engineering. This semester, I switched research projects and am now working with Dr. Scott Osborn in the Biological Engineering department. This semester, I began work on devising an equation to relate important carbonation parameters—temperature and pressure—in order to enable automation of a patented device created by Dr Osborn. I collected data at Core Brewing in Springdale, AR and derived a baseline equation to predict carbonation levels for the test beverage, Scarlet Letter seltzer. I also spent a portion of the semester writing my honors thesis proposal. I will begin further analysis in the upcoming semester, as well as complete and defend my honors thesis.

The goal of this research project is to develop an equation that can be programmed into a device called the Carbo Rock-It™. The Carbo Rock-It™ was developed as a means of improving sustainability within the carbonation process at craft breweries and microbreweries. The Carbo Rock-It™ supersaturates an uncarbonated liquid with carbon dioxide gas, then circulates the supersaturated liquid back into a vessel with uncarbonated liquid, utilizing nearly 100% of the carbon dioxide and requiring a smaller portion of the beverage to be carbonated. In the traditional force carbonation methods currently used, nearly half of the carbon dioxide used in carbonation ends up being vented to the atmosphere. Developing an equation that relates temperature and pressure to the carbonation level of the beverage will allow this device to be operated without trained technicians present and for the device to be distributed on a larger scale.

I chose this topic because I have had Dr Osborn in class for the past three years and became interested in the Carbo Rock-It™ as I heard him speak about it in class. My dad has worked for Anheuser-Busch for over 20 years, so I’ve always been interested in the brewing process and thought this was a perfect opportunity to apply my biological engineering background with my interest in beer. I began working on this project over the summer alongside Lydia Huck, a master’s student also working with Dr Osborn. We collected data for almost every carbonation of Scarlet Letter run at Core Brewing for several months and compiled the data into a spreadsheet that Lydia and Dr Osborn created. To develop an equation for the Carbo Rock-It™, an equation needed to be developed specifically for Scarlet Letter as a baseline. I spent the first part of the semester deriving this equation from Henry’s Law and compared this equation to one derived by Dr Osborn and Lydia to double check its accuracy. After deriving this equation, I began writing my thesis proposal.

The biggest challenge I faced this semester was finding time to complete my research this semester. I was enrolled in very challenging courses that required a lot of time outside of class. I also am working on a senior design project, have several jobs, and was the president of the engineering sorority on campus. Because of this, I found it very difficult to find free time to complete the work I needed to on this project. Dr Osborn was very helpful when dealing with this, as he understood how difficult this semester was and was willing to work with me to keep me on track. We had weekly meetings to check in with progress and he helped guide me in where my research should be heading. In the spring semester, I will start with thorough analysis of the data that was previously collected. This will allow me to derive a “rough-draft” equation and then implement it at Core Brewing. After testing at the brewery, I will make any necessary edits to the equation and complete final testing. Once I am sure the equation is accurate, I will finish writing my thesis and defend it to a committee.