CHEERS project is commited with a sustainable development. Because of that, deliverable D6.2 outlines the planned approach for conducting the Techno-economic Assessment (TEA) and Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) within the CHEERS project. The TEA and LCSA will provide a comprehensive perspective of the impacts of the CHEERS biorefinery by considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with the bio-based products throughout their life cycle.

The CHEERS biorefinery enables 5 different value chains (VC) using two different platforms for the transformation of by-products from the brewing industry into valuable products, increasing the economic value of the side streams from beer production and reducing the environmental impact of this process. The TEA and LSCA of CHEERS solutions will be assessed at three process capacity scales for valorising the by-products of small-, medium-, and large-scale breweries.

“The functional unit for the TEA and LCSA are the products (insect flour, animal feed, disinfectant, ectoine and pet food) from the valorisation of the by-products resulting from 1 hl beer production, via the microbial and insect platform in the CHEERS biorefinery”. – ZHAW

The TEA and LCSA will cover a wide range of economic, environmental, and social indicators covering the whole life cycle of the CHEERS biorefinery. This includes environmental indicators like greenhouse gas emissions, cumulative energy demand and biodiversity impact, social indicators like working conditions, corruption, and inequality as well as economic indicators like net present value and payback period.

This comprehensive approach to assess the CHEERS biorefinery informs decisions by considering environmental, social, and economic sustainability across the entire life cycle of the valorisation.

About ZHAW

The Zurich University of Applied Sciences is in charge of quantifying the environmental impact of the five new, innovative products and compare them with conventional production systems. Learn more about the project partners here.