Sustainable Strategies for the Recovery and Valorization of Brewery By-Products—A Multidisciplinary Approach

Abstract

The prevention of environmental pollution is a current concern of the population, which is looking for ways to reduce the production of industrial waste. The brewing industry generates huge amounts of waste, with difficult management from an economic point of view. The waste obtained from the technological process of beer production is used in various branches, such as the food industry, mainly as feed, additives, or food ingredients; as animal feed; in biofuel production; and in building or packaging materials. The valuable by-products obtained from brewery waste can serve as raw materials for further processing or become functional ingredients for the production of new functional products. Reusing and recycling are essential strategies for transforming waste into new valuable resources, and such strategies enable circular solutions to maintain the value of products and resources for as long as possible. The chemical composition of the waste obtained from beer manufacturing can vary slightly depending on the type and quality of the ingredients used and the prevailing conditions during each stage of the manufacturing process. This paper focuses on sustainable strategies for the recovery and valorization of brewery by-products. Experimentally, the aim was to determine the chemical characteristics of different types of brewery waste, such as moisture content, ash, pH, total content of phenolic compounds, and total protein content. The experimental values obtained have shown that brewery waste is a valuable by-product.