PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
More than 86 million tonnes of bio-waste were generated annually in the EU-28 from 2013 to 2020, causing environmental degradation (e.g. pollution from landfills) and the loss of valuable by-products. Brewer’s spent grain (BSG) accounts for around 85% of waste from the brewing industry, with 3.5 million tonnes of BSG produced annually in the EU-28 (2014-2018). However, there is currently no large-scale solution for recovering the valuable components of BSG, and it is mostly used as low-value animal feed or disposed of in landfills.
The production of protein (animal or plant-based) has a significant impact on the environment. The production of 1kg of beef protein requires 1 640 m2 of land and 45 m3 of water, and generates 500 kg of CO2eq. The recovery of proteins from secondary agricultural materials, such as BSG, can therefore help reduce these environmental and climate impacts. In addition, the food and beverage industry accounts for 17% of the EU’s overall energy consumption, with around two-thirds coming from natural gas. Just 5% of the energy used for EU beer production come from renewable sources.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE FWFB project aims to demonstrate a zero-waste circular business model and a highly replicable solution for upcycling BSG into quality proteins (high protein yield for feed and food applications) and into quality fibre biomass (very low protein fraction for high-efficiency combustion).
Specifically, the project aims to:
- Design a high-efficiency separation process that upcycles the BSG into added-value components.
- Ensure replicability through the implementation of a mature technology: test and prove the integrated technological system using various BSG inputs with different types of physical characteristics while achieving similar end-product specifications.
- Develop a zero-waste model whereby wastewater resulting from the separation process (5.13 m3/ k hL) is treated in the existing wastewater treatment plant of the brewery.
- Reduce the use of natural resources to produce proteins.
- Reduce the use of fossil fuel resources for brewery operations: BSG fibres coming from the fibre treatment unit (10.9K tonnes/year) will be burnt in the combustion plant of the brewery, producing 150.3K GJ/year to cover part of the brewery’s thermal energy needs – while wastewater treatment (80% of 192 400 GJ/year) will yield 3.1K GJ of biogas.
- Reduce GHG emissions by avoiding carbon-intensive agriculture/farming to produce plant/animal proteins.
- Reduce GHG emissions from brewing operations.
- Reduce GHG emissions from wet BSG transportation.
RESULTS
Expected results:
- BSG proteins through the extraction of 1.34 tonnes/k hL of dried proteins at 66% of protein yield;
- BSG fibres through the recovery of 3.12 tonnes/k hL of BSG dried fibres at 13% of raw protein.
- Saving of 2.32 m2 of land and 0.01 m3 of water thanks to the replacement of 1kg of plant proteins by 1kg BSG proteins.
- Saving of 1.11 m2 of land and 0.01 m3 of water thanks to the replacement of 1kg of animal proteins by 1kg BSG proteins
- Reduction of natural gas consumption by 153.4K GJ/year.
- Reduction of 2.38 kg of CO2eq thanks to the replacement of 1kg of plant proteins by 1kg of BSG proteins and reduction of 1.46 kg CO2eq thanks to the replacement of 1kg of animal proteins by 1kg of BSG proteins.
- Decrease from 9.8K to 1.1K tonnes CO2eq/year generated by brewing activities, thanks to the use of the BSG fibre biomass instead of natural gas to produce clean thermal energy.
- Decrease from 0.55K tonnes CO2eq/year to 0.15K tonnes CO2 eq/year generated by transportation thanks to the significant reduction of the volume transported.
