Industrial by-products are often treated as waste, leading to an inefficient use of resources. The EU Green Deal aims to change this by ensuring that such materials are no longer simply disposed of, but instead find new applications through innovative technologies, fostering a true circular economy.

One underutilized resource is the by-products of beer production. Every year, millions of tons of brewery by-products are generated worldwide, most notably spent grain. Today, spent grain is primarily used as animal feed or simply discarded, meaning a valuable resource goes largely untapped. This is where the EU project CHEERS comes in. Its goal is to transform beer by-products into high-value products, contributing to both the circular economy and the bioeconomy.

Within the project, five innovative products are being developed:

  • Insect protein for food applications
  • Chlorine for cleaning and disinfecting agents
  • Fatty acids and and single cell protein as pet food and feed additives
  • Ectoine for use in cosmetics

Dimitri Chryssolouris from the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) research group at IUNR at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences evaluates the environmental, economic, and social impacts of these products using a comprehensive Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) approach. CHEERS products are directly compared to conventional alternatives—for example, insect protein is benchmarked against pea protein and whey protein.

Dimitri presented the findings at the LCM 2025 conference in Palermo, Italy. In his talk, which took place in the “LCSA for Industry Decision-Making” session, he showcased how LCSA results can inform strategic decisions in the industry sector.

Key findings show that insect protein derived from brewery by-products has a significantly lower environmental footprint, particularly with regard to greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC, 2021), than whey protein, which is one of the most popular and affordable protein supplements worldwide. While whey protein production requires substantial agricultural resources, the CHEERS process uses by-products as a feedstock, thereby reducing the need for virgin resources. However, from an environmental perspective, insect protein cannot yet compete with plant-based alternatives such as pea protein (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Relative comparison of greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC, 2021) per kilogram of insect protein versus whey and pea protein. The emissions related to beer account for the beer volume required to generate enough spent grain to feed the insects. Since spent grain is normally used as animal feed, soy feed substitution is included when modeling insect protein.

From an economic standpoint, CHEERS products show promising potential. With increasing production volumes, they are expected to become price-competitive, especially considering the rising demand for sustainable, climate-friendly products. The social assessment remains challenging. Since the project involves future value chains, many data points are not yet available, requiring assumptions that introduce uncertainty. Another key factor is market acceptance: both consumers and industry must be willing to adopt these novel products for them to succeed commercially.

The CHEERS project demonstrates how circular economy principles can be implemented in practice, turning what was once considered waste into valuable resources. This approach not only helps achieve climate goals but also strengthens Europe’s economic resilience.

Author: Dimitri Chryssolouris, Life Cycle Assessment Research Group.