Value from waste

Watch the Value from waste video

The brewing industry generates significant co-product streams in the form of brewers’ grains, spent hops and yeast. These materials have potential value in terms of their chemical composition, physical properties and energy content.

As industry seeks to become more efficient in its use of raw materials, breweries are adopting a bio-refining approach to try to generate economic value from waste. Currently much of this material is either sold cheaply for animal feed or goes to landfill.

In partnership with key industrial partners from the brewing and energy sectors, our research ranges from processing the grain into commercial pet foods to spent yeast being used for novel and high-value pharmaceutical and anti-cancer treatments.

With specialist knowledge in energy balance, Lignocellulosic conversion to biofuels, and yeast metabolism, we have several research areas aimed at developing value from brewer’s grains.

Currently, as part of LACE (Lignocellulosics Conversion to Bioethanol) - headed by Professor Katherine Smart - researchers are trying to free the sugars bound in the cellulose and hemicellulose contents of brewer’s grains to ferment these to generate fuel bioethanol. The success of this approach depends on how efficient the process is and the use of the remaining lignin-rich material; an area where Nottingham has active research programmes.