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Brewer's yeast becomes egg substitute
Breweries need to find ways to create added value beyond beer production and fully utilise their resources. In this context, side streams from beer production, for example spent grains or brewer's yeast, are becoming the focus of interest. The further use in food production promises a profitable use of these "raw materials".
Alternative proteins, market of the future
Brewer's yeast in particular offers potential that has been largely untapped. Brewer's yeast contains many valuable components that are in demand in the pharmaceutical industry, for example. However, brewer's yeast is particularly convincing due to its high protein content of up to 54 percent, making it extremely attractive for a wide range of applications in the food market. This is because the demand for alternative proteins is rising sharply due to the growing world population. The market for alternative proteins from more sustainable and environmentally friendly sources is forecast to grow exponentially to reach a size of 290 billion USD by 2025.
The search for alternatives
In order to successfully participate in this market, companies in the food industry are already trying to produce alternatives to animal products. However, the plant proteins mainly used so far have inferior properties compared to animal proteins. These include functional properties such as deficient texture and gelling properties as well as off-flavours, an inauthentic mouth or chewing sensation and, last but not least, the sometimes poorer bioavailability and amino acid profile of plant protein sources. To compensate for these characteristics, product developers are forced to resort to undesirable additives.
The new process promises authentic meat and egg alternativesProteins from microorganisms
One of the oldest human cultural techniques is used to solve these problems: fermentation. The brewing sector in particular has extensive know-how and decades of experience in this process. This synergy potential has already been recognised by players in the sector. The proposals developed so far focus on brewer's grains.
The start-up ProteinDistillery goes one step further. The team has developed a patent-pending refinement process that allows any type of biomass – specifically yeast – to be converted into high-quality vegan protein. The process breaks down microorganisms into their functional building blocks. The result is a protein that, for the first time, allows food manufacturers to create authentic alternatives without compromising taste, consistency or nutritional value.
Location-independent scaling
In the first phase, only brewer's yeast from brown yeast streams is used for protein production. This circular economy approach offers great advantages in terms of sustainability and CO2 pricing on the part of food manufacturers.
Unused raw material potential for the further scaling of the concept can be found not only in brewer's yeast from carbohydrate side streams but also in other biomass sources, which amount to 1.6 million tonnes annually throughout Germany and as much as 14 million tonnes in the EU. This means that the fermentation process can be scaled independently of location with short and resilient supply chains.
Gentle preparation of yeast proteins
Gentle purification is used in the manufacturing process to neutralise the bitter taste of the yeast protein. This method ensures that the protein remains in its natural form and functionality. The aim of the gentle process is to achieve a higher quality and purity of the protein, which makes it particularly attractive for use in various food products.
In this way, ProteinDistillery offers a perfect substitute for animal protein due to the excellent technofunctional properties of the protein. In the categories of solubility, water-binding capacity, gelling, emulsifying capacity as well as foam-binding capacity, the protein - unlike most vegetable proteins – comes close to conventional egg protein, which is considered the gold standard for proteins in the food sector. The well-known properties of egg protein, such as foaming or solidification during heating, are thus also made possible with vegan proteins.
The basic components of the yeast can be reassembled according to individual needsIndividual, highly functional products
During the production process, the brewer's yeast is broken down into its individual basic components: Protein fractions with different techno-functional properties, components of the cell wall and other partly aroma-active components. Subsequently, the different streams are reassembled in such a way that a highly functional product is created and individually optimised solutions can be offered to customers. By-products such as nucleic and fatty acids or cell wall fractions are suitable for the flavouring, pharmaceutical or animal feed industries, for example.
Wide range of applications
Due to the properties described above, the protein is not limited to a single application in the food industry, but can be used for the most diverse fields of application:
- Chemical additives such as methyl cellulose can be dispensed with for the production of meat alternatives;
- Burger patties can be given a firm shape with a pleasant consistency by using the protein with its high water-binding capacity and gelling ability during frying;
- the protein can be used for the production of alternative egg products such as scrambled eggs as well as an egg substitute in baked goods;
- the protein can also be used for cheese alternatives with typical melting behaviour;
- whipping of the protein similar to egg whites is made possible by the high foaming capacity and stability of the protein. The high emulsifying capacity enables vegan milk to be foamed.
According to ProteinDistillery's calculations, of the amount of brewer's yeast available in the German brewing industry, only a small part is necessary for the initial production. Subsequently, production can be scaled up with innovative concepts to increase biomass quantities. Beyond the production of yeast via side streams, there is great potential for the brewing industry, which, with the support of long-term partners, could open up new sales markets in the nutrition sector through fermentation.
Cooperation with breweries
A brewery can already be integrated into the process as a simple yeast supplier. Since the protein production process is particularly easy to scale up regardless of location, other types of cooperation are also possible, such as setting up the production plant on the premises of a brewery. The fermentation process would be facilitated directly in the brewery and mutual know-how would be exchanged.
A great opportunity also lies in the use of underutilised capacity in a brewery. This capacity could be rented out to produce even more biomass or to produce other types of yeast through fermentation. This concept does not envisage intervening in the brewing process. In the use of free capacity lies the potential for special fermentations with, for example, high-proof alcohol fermentation and also significant opportunities for research into novel forms of yeast production. Processes are currently being developed and calculations verified for the processing of potential valuable secondary products. The same applies to yeast harvesting also in small and medium-sized breweries.
The founding team was awarded the Next Economy Award in December 2022 at the German Sustainability Award ceremony attended by the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and successfully completed the financing of the first plant shortly afterwards. ProteinDistillery is thus one step closer to its vision of transforming the food system with the aim of feeding the world's population and securing our livelihoods.
