Transição energética em cervejarias

Abstract

The brewing market is one of the most important economic sectors in Brazil, being the third largest in the world, after China and the United States. The adaptation of this sector to environmentally sustainable practices stimulates its competitiveness, also resulting in environmental benefits. This work is organized in three scientific studies. The first study carries out an environmental analysis of the malt transportation step to beer industries, considering a large brewery and a small one, both installed in the Brazilian Northeast. The high environmental impacts were mainly due to road transportation by trucks. The second study addresses the generation of thermal energy for industrial use, demonstrating the technological feasibility of replacing traditional energy sources (natural gas, for example) with solar thermal energy. The third study focuses on the generation of electricity for use in breweries, and compares the current Brazilian electricity mix supplied by the electric grid with photovoltaic generation. All studies developed the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology using SimaPro software, EcoInvent database and IPCC 2013 GWP100y environmental impact assessment method, which expresses the environmental impact in terms of kg CO2-eq. The results obtained herein, added to results of future research covering several industrial sectors, have the potential to decrease the negative effects of human activities. With these results, actions can be formulated to mitigate the intensification of the greenhouse effect, as the sum of avoided emissions is high. Through these changes in different sectors, it will be possible in the near future to establish a low carbon economy