As CHEERS marks its third anniversary (September 2022–August 2025), the Horizon Europe project led by Mahou San Miguel has moved from vision to demonstration: turning brewery side-streams into five market-ready bio-based products.

What is CHEERS?

CHEERS is a four-year (Sep 2022–Aug 2026) European project coordinated by Mahou San Miguel with a consortium of 11 partners across five countries. Its goal is to valorise under-used brewery by-streams into five high-value products—insect protein, disinfectant (hypochlorite), microbial protein (SCP), ectoine and caproic acid—validated at demonstration scale in an industrial brewery. Each value chain targets at least a 45% carbon-footprint reduction versus conventional alternatives.

2022-2023: Launching phase of the project

The first 12 months of the project were marked by a launching phase, full of illusion, strategic planification and the motivation to create a real change in the brewing industry. Starting in Valencia, AINIA hosted the Kick off meeting of the project, to set the initial six-month plan and strategies. The partners started moving within their development lines, from research to practice. Several actions were moving in parallel, like using citizen science to improve industry practices, as it was reflected at the C*Sci conference were our partners from Earthwatch attended.

2023-2024: Setting up the work

On the project’s second year, everything was about setting up the work planed during the first 12 months. The partners had the chance to attend to several events like the LCM 2023, where ZHAW presented the LCSA approach for the project. Other initiatives included the celebration of the World creativity and Innovation Day, and the International Beer Day lead by Innovarum, as well as the coffee with science initiative, where the Institute of Sustainable Processes had the chance to present the project to a big group of senior and young researchers. Partners met in person at the Mahou-San Miguel Alovera facilities, to coordinate the upcoming activities of the project.

2024-2025: Pilot plants and Industrial actions

The third year of the project was marked by a big push from our industry and technical partners: While Proteinsecta was validating the brewery by-products for insect feeding, Syspro was designing and building the highmass transfer biofermentors required for biomass production from CH4. At the same time, Aqualia selected the demo site for the plants that will be latter operated by Uva, Genia bioenergy and AINIA. We also had the chance to collaborate with other EU funded projects as part of an action for the Zero Waste Day lead by Innovarum, followed by the great news: The Insect platform is up and running!

So, what’s next?

Soon, the microbial platform will be installed within its final location, and the validation trials will start, providing the awaited results, so stay tuned to our website to discover all the results and impacts that are coming soon!

Stay tuned to our updates for the full set of results, life-cycle metrics, and industry impacts as CHEERS enters its final stretch, showcasing how breweries can cut carbon, eliminate waste, and create bio-based value from every drop.