Economic and environmental performance of instantaneous water heating system for craft beer production

Abstract

While microbrewery has become very popular, energy efficiency is a great challenge to microbrewers which causes low profitability margins and poor environmental performance. With a high heating rate, instantaneous water heating system (IWHS) is a potential alternative to steam boiler for beer brewing. This study developed an integrated techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) to, for the first time, evaluate the economic and environmental consequences of IWHS implementation in a microbrewery. Results showed that labor, packaging and raw materials were the major variable costs of craft beer. The net present value and internal rate of return calculated indicated that the investment in IWHS was not profitable to the microbrewery with its current productivity. Raw material production and beer processing were the environmental hotspots of craft beer. Due to reduced gas use for mashing and cleaning, IWHS decreased the global warming potential of craft beer by approximately 22.4%. Besides justifying the IWHS investment, enlarging the production scale of the microbrewery can reduce the environmental footprint of its beer. This study provided microbrewers with a holistic tool with clear indicators to evaluate the economic and environmental feasibility of alternative hot water supply systems for a more sustainable craft beer production.