At the world’s largest hop processing site in St. Johann, Bavaria — right in the heart of the Hallertau growing region — stands a plant of superlatives: the world’s largest hops extraction plant, engineered and delivered by Natex for Hopfenveredlung St. Johann GmbH. With an annual capacity of approximately 10,000 tons of raw hops, it supplies the international beer industry with premium CO2 hop extract.

Eight extractors, 550 bar, one goal: consistent quality

At the heart of this industrial CO2 extraction plant are eight state-of-the-art high-pressure extractors, each with an internal volume of 4,500 litres and designed for an operating pressure of 550 bar. The raw hops are pelletized before being loaded into the vessels. Supercritical CO2 then extracts the valuable soluble compounds, which vary depending on the hop variety and extraction conditions. The result is a deep-green extract with honey-like viscosity, rich in alpha acids and easy to dose precisely in the brewing process. CO2 extraction has been used at the site since 1980 — and the new plant is ready for the next 40 years of operation.

From engineering to commissioning

The project began with around two years of intensive engineering groundwork. From the final order for the plant delivery to commissioning took almost exactly two more years: the plant went into operation in September 2020 — on schedule, despite a global pandemic. The site’s grand opening ceremony, postponed due to the pandemic, was celebrated in October 2022.

The challenges — and how we solved them

Hops are a demanding raw material: depending on the variety, they contain high levels of essential oils, which required targeted adaptations of proven plant components. Through systematic testing at different process conditions, the behaviour of the material was analysed and translated into individual engineering solutions.
The second challenge had nothing to do with process engineering: the COVID-19 pandemic hit right in the middle of the realization phase, restricting travel between Austria and Germany. Thanks to special permits and a well-coordinated team, the plant was still commissioned on time.

Energy efficiency by design

Sustainability was part of the design brief from day one: process conditions were optimized to significantly reduce the energy required for condensation and CO2 circulation, and a CO2 recovery system down to below 1 bar keeps the working medium in the loop.

Your raw material, our plant

Whether hops or any other natural raw material: every Natex project starts with trials in our own pilot facility. In pilot testing we determine yield, extract quality and design parameters — the foundation for plants from pilot scale to world records. Learn more about the technology: CO2 Extraction of Solid Raw Materials.

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