Brewer's Spent Grain Enzymatic Treatment for Functional Beverages
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing uses of brewer's spent grain (BSG) primarily as animal feed do not effectively leverage its high fiber and protein content for human consumption, particularly to enhance health-promoting compounds like water-extractable arabinoxylans (WEAX) and protein content in beverages.
Innovation Solution
An enzymatic treatment of BSG with alpha-amylase, gluco-amylase, xylanase, protease, and beta-glucanase, followed by fermentation with lactic acid bacteria, specifically Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus rhamnosus, to produce a beverage with high WEAX and protein content, supplemented with probiotics if needed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If brewer's spent grain is used as animal feed, then it provides basic nutrition for animals, but it fails to leverage its high fiber and protein content for human health benefits
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies enzymatic treatment to change the chemical parameters of BSG, specifically using xylanase to increase water-extractable arabinoxylan content from trace levels to 1.4% or more, and using protease to enhance protein solubility and availability, thereby transforming BSG into a functional beverage ingredient suitable for human consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces lactic acid bacteria as an intermediary agent that ferments the enzymatically treated BSG, producing probiotics and further enhancing the nutritional profile, thereby bridging the gap between raw BSG material and final functional beverage product
2Quantity of substance
If water-extractable arabinoxylan levels are increased in BSG preparations, then health-promoting effects are enhanced, but the complexity of the processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary enzymatic treatment with xylanase before fermentation to pre-release water-extractable arabinoxylans from the BSG matrix, making them bioavailable before the fermentation step, thereby achieving high WEAX levels through a systematic multi-step process
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines enzymatic treatment and fermentation in a continuous process where the output of one step becomes the input of the next, maintaining useful action throughout the transformation of BSG into functional beverage ingredient, thereby managing complexity through process integration
3Quantity of substance
If BSG is processed for human consumption, then nutritional value is enhanced, but the processing cost and complexity increase compared to animal feed applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a multi-functional enzyme cocktail that simultaneously performs saccharification, proteolysis, and xylan degradation, allowing one treatment step to achieve multiple nutritional enhancements (protein solubility, arabinoxylan release, sugar availability), thereby improving ease of manufacture through process consolidation
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The process increases the levels of health-promoting WEAX and protein in beverages, providing nutritional benefits such as regulating blood glucose levels, promoting gut health, and enhancing immune function, while being lactose-free and low in calories, fats, and sugars.
Implementation Method 1
The enzyme treatment of the brewer's spent grain may include the addition of enzymes with following enzymatic activity to the brewer's spent grain: alpha-amylase, gluco-amylase, cellulase, xylanase, protease, and Beta-glucanase
Implementation Method 2
fermentation by a strain of lactic acid bacteria to provide a fermented broth
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
A process for preparing a beverage or beverage component, the process comprising an enzymatic treatment of brewer's spent grain including addition of one or a combination of enzymes with alpha-amylase, gluco-amylase, cellulase, xylanase, protease and/or beta-glucanase activitiy and fermentation by a strain of lactic acid bacteria, the combination of enzymes and enzymatic treatment conditions are such that: • said lactic acid bacteria produces 4.5 g/L lactic acid and metabolises sugar such that the resulting fermented broth contains less than 2.5% w/w, preferably less than 0.5% w/w residual sugar; or • said lactic acid bacteria produces 4.5 g/L lactic acid and metabolises sugar such that the resulting fermented broth contains at least 2.5% w/w residual sugar.