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Title: BREWERY’S SPENT GRAIN BIOREFINERY: A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO RECOVER VALUABLE MOLECULES AND PRODUCE GREEN ENERGY

BREWERY’S SPENT GRAIN BIOREFINERY: A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO RECOVER VALUABLE MOLECULES AND PRODUCE GREEN ENERGY

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Di Mario J.; Gambelli M. A.; Del Buono D.; Emiliani C.; Gigliotti G.
10.5593/sgem2024v/4.2/s17.12
10.5593/sgem2024v/4.2
1314-2704
978-619-7603-77-4
English
24
4.2
•    Prof. DSc. Oleksandr Trofymchuk, UKRAINE 
•    Prof. Dr. hab. oec. Baiba Rivza, LATVIA
Recycling, Waste Management, and Circular Economy
Biorefineries offer an advantageous and sustainable solution for managing by-products from the agro-industry while enabling the recovery of valuable molecules and biogas production from residual biomass. This study applied this approach to the beer industry's main by-products: Brewery’s Spent Grain (BSG). BSG is typically used as animal feed but shows potential for biorefinery applications due to its high protein content and favorable C/N ratio. By treating this biomass with an ionic liquid consisting of triethylamine and sulphuric acid, nanostructured lignin (LN) was extracted and recovered, while protein hydrolysates (PH) were obtained by applying a hydrolytic process conducted in an alkaline environment. LN and PH are valuable products with potential uses in various fields, such as plant biostimulants and, in the case of LN, even nanocarriers for targeted active compound delivery. Furthermore, the remaining biomass was used as a substrate for the Anaerobic Digestion (AD) to produce biogas. The AD process was carried out in lab-scale batch reactors under mesophilic conditions (37°C), using a digestate as inoculum and untreated BSG as the control. The results showed that BSG has a high potential for biogas production, with the AD process ending after 63 days. The extraction of LN and PH from BSG reduced the biogas production time, thus resulting in lower operating costs, but showed a lower biogas yield than untreated BSG. This suggests that co-digestion with other waste products might be a better approach to improve the amount of bioenergy obtainable from these matrices. Overall, this study highlights the potential of BSG to be reused in a circular economy framework, adding value to this by-product and improving its management.
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This work was funded by the European Union—NextGenerationEU as part of the National Innovation Ecosystem grant ECS00000041—VITALITY promoted by the Ministero dell’Universita e della Ricerca (MUR). We thank the University of Perugia and the MUR for their support within the VITALITY project.
conference
https://doi.org/10.5593/sgem2024v/4.2/s17.12
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BREWERY’S SPENT GRAIN BIOREFINERY: A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO RECOVER VALUABLE MOLECULES AND PRODUCE GREEN ENERGY
Proceedings of 24th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2024
24th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2024, 27 - 30 November, 2024
Proceedings Paper
STEF92 Technology
International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference Surveying Geology and Mining Ecology Management, SGEM
SWS Scholarly Society; Acad Sci Czech Republ; Latvian Acad Sci; Polish Acad Sci; Russian Acad Sci; Serbian Acad Sci and Arts; Natl Acad Sci Ukraine; Natl Acad Sci Armenia; Sci Council Japan; European Acad Sci, Arts and Letters; Acad Fine Arts Zagreb Croatia; Croatian Acad Sci and Arts; Acad Sci Moldova; Montenegrin Acad Sci and Arts; Georgian Acad Sci; Acad Fine Arts and Design Bratislava; Russian Acad Arts; Turkish Acad Sci.
85-92
27 - 30 November, 2024
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