A total transformation

• Clean production measures in a medium-size brewery resulted in a significant increase in the quality level of new products
• Measures helped to reduce heat waste, wastewater and other waste, resulting in significant savings

CCP in Brno, the Czech Republic faced similar challenges to other breweries dating back to late 1960s characterised by low labour productivity and poor energy efficiency.

The brewery's management decided to tackle these issues in an effort to increase profitability by looking closely at its costs and focusing on high-quality production, local specialties and the environment. The brewery set out to upgrade its production and transportation. Modern closed-loop sanitation processes were introduced which generated economic, environmental and qualitative benefits. 

Following a life cycle assessment (LCA), which considered the range of environmental impacts on consumers throughout the life of the product, a series of measures were introduced. One of them was the decision to exclude fermentation by-products (nitrates, fat, cholesterol, nitrites and caffeine) from its products. This also had a positive effect on heat-saving which saved around 3 000 GJ annually.

Key results

The following measures were gradually implemented within the project:

• Conversion of unsuitable WWTP
• Improving of energy management
• Reconstruction of brewery operations
• Heat recovery from compressors
• Rationalisation of transfer tanks
• Installation of KEG drum labeling equipment
• Acquisition of bottle viewer according to HACCP requirements
• Reconstruction of company sewerage system

The introduction of clean production (CP) methodology has also played a significant role in improving production management and other activities.