A COMPANY whose new product can save brewers up to half the energy they use in making beer is the 2007 Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business of the Year. Pursuit Dynamics plc, based at Hinchingbrooke Business Park in Huntingdon, was also presented with th

A COMPANY whose new product can save brewers up to half the energy they use in making beer is the 2007 Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business of the Year.

Pursuit Dynamics plc, based at Hinchingbrooke Business Park in Huntingdon, was also presented with the Innovation Award 2007 at a ceremony at the Burgess Hall, in St Ives, last night (Friday) to mark the 10th year the awards have been competed for.

The PDX wort heater from Pursuit Dynamics - the wort is the infusion of malt and hops at the heart of the brewing process -has been in development at Hinchingbrooke Business Park for three years in partnership with Brewing Research International (BRi) and brewers Coors. It is redefining the brewing industry by saving energy on an intensive process and enabling brewers to produce products cheaper, faster and greener than before, the company says.

Launched in May this year, units have already been bought by major brewing houses, which recognise that the unique system also reduces cleaning time for equipment and the costs associated with cleaning.

In spite of speeding up the process and saving up to half the energy consumed, the new heater does not change the taste of the beer.

BRi's technical director, Professor Richard Sharpe has described the product as "nothing short of a potential revolution in cost-saving terms for the brewing industry".

Assessing three short-listed products for the Innovation Award, the judges said the company "has proved its huge commercial potential, raised capital to exploit it and set about doing so in an extraordinarily professional and impressive manner".

It was, they added, "a perfect concept-to-commercialisation case study".

The company, founded in 2000 before five years' development work brought the PDX technology to the market place, was singled out from the other winners of corporate awards for the overall prize - The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business of the Year, sponsored for the 10th successive year by St Neots-based chartered accountants Whitmarsh Sterland.

"The judges recognise the fact that the company has excelled in all the areas of business - from the birth and nurturing of the business idea through to the establishment of clear and quantifiable cost benefits, and finally through to the setting up of appropriate distribution routes with tailored sales and marketing activities," BBC TV Look East presenter Stewart White said last night.

"It all adds up to a worthy winner who, we are sure, will continue to grow and bring benefits to both Pursuit Dynamics plc and the area of Huntingdon," he told more than 300 guests at the ceremony.