Unlocking value from waste: Identifying brewers’ spent grain-specific hydrolytic enzymes and their potential for scalable manufacturing
University
University of Sheffield
Lead Organisation
Future Greens
Theme
Energy and low carbon fuels
Funding
SPARK Award
Project partners: University of Sheffield & Future Greens
Project focus area: Energy and low carbon fuels
Brewers’ spent grain (BSG) is one of the most abundant byproducts of the food and drink industry. Although currently BSG is used as animal feed, there is potential to use it as feedstock for renewable energy generation via anaerobic digestion.
This project is a collaboration between a Sheffield-based SME, Future Greens and the University of Sheffield. Future Greens provide high-performance anaerobic digestion technology to the brewing industry with lowered footprint and lower cost of maintenance compared to market leaders. The project aims to enhance the efficiency of anaerobic digestion of BSG through identification of BSG-specific hydrolytic enzymes with improved capabilities. The project outcomes will expand the synthetic biology catalogue of parts available for rational engineering of hydrolytic enzymes to tailor enzymatic activity towards specific feedstocks such as BSG.
The project takes an engineering biology approach from the outset by taking into account scalable manufacturing of enzymes using a novel rotating spiral bioreactor developed at the University of Sheffield. The project outcomes will improve the operational reliability of anaerobic digestion, giving Future Greens a further competitive edge in the market. The project will play a key role in enhancing the UK’s energy security and its ability to achieve its net-zero vision.
For more information
For more information on this project, contact us, or view all Engineering Biology SPARK Award winners.
This project funding is part of the Engineering Biology Innovation Network, led by Innovate UK Business Connect in collaboration with Innovate UK and UKRI’s Technology Mission Fund. The network’s goal is to progress innovations, create a commercially focused community and foster new consortia to advance innovations towards commercial applications.