How can we make use of the by-streams from the brewing industry? CHEERS, an EU-funded project that aims to find uses for what might otherwise have been considered waste, by converting them into five high-value-added industrial bioproducts.
The project is led by Spanish brewer Mahou San Miguel with a consortium of 12 partners from five countries: Spain, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Beginning in September 2022 and running until September 2026, CHEERS aims to cut resource use and the environmental impact of the beer production chain. It is being developed as a modular solution where bio-based industries can select among five novel biotechnological routes to generate five bio-based products for industrial applications: insect protein, disinfectant, microbial protein, ectoine and caproic acid.
The waste side streams include bagasse, wastewater, CO2 (carbon dioxide) and CH4(methane). The value chains are based on new bioprocesses that will be validated at demo scale at an industrial brewery and a minimum 45% carbon footprint reduction should be achieved in each value chain.
The aim is to help brewers and other bio-based industries improve their feedstock use efficiency and overall sustainability and competitiveness via upcycling and cascading use of biomass produced from their side streams.
All value chains are based on new bioprocesses and/or innovative fermenters combined with sustainable downstream processes, which will be validated at demo scale at an industrial brewery.