Optimization of the extraction of prebiotic oligosaccharides from acid hydrolysis of spent coffee ground.

• Grant number: 23/01752-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: Kelly Johana Dussán Medina
• Grantee: Henrique Maziero Fogarin
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/03000-0 - Obtaining high value-added bioproducts from a by-product of the coffee production chain, AP.PNGP.PI
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/15075-8 - Evaluating the prebiotic effect of mannan-oligosaccharides derived from spent coffee grounds., BE.EP.MS

Abstract

Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages around the world, the main varieties commercialized are: the Coffea arabica and the Coffea robusta. For the next harvest, the expectations are for growth in both production as well as the consumption, consequently there will be an increase in the waste generated by the coffee industry. For each kilogram of soluble coffee produced, 2 kg of spent coffee grounds are produced on average. In addition to the large amount of spent coffe grounds genareted by the production processes, another worrying factor is high environmental contamination potencial due to the organic compounds present in the spent coffee grounds. In order to seek the circular economy development, there is the need to reuse this waste aiming the production of higher added value products. In this sense, several studies have been carried out in order to obtain prebiotic oliosaccharides from spent coffee ground, they have applied different methods such as: microbial fermentation, alkaline hydrolysis, acid hydrolysis and microwave techniques. However, it was not observed in the literature review researches related to the operational conditions optimization in the process of obtaing oligosaccharides. Thereby, this project aims to evaluate optimize the operational variables, Solid/Liquid ratio, acid concentration, temperature, and time, which influence the pre-treatment of the spent coffee grounds, aiming the maximum prebiotic oligosaccharides extraction from the hemicellulosic fraction. With the development of this project, we will be able to create an use option to the lignocellulosic material and will generate data that will increase the valorization of waste from coffee consumption, highlighting its potential, contributing to overcome the existing challenges, focusing its incorporation in biorefineries and achieving more appropriate and efficient technologies from a technical, economic and environmental point of view. It is also expected to positively contribute to scientific and technological development, within a broad concept of sustainability, allowing advances in the conceptual design of processes applying lignocellulosic residues in the production of higher added value bioproducts.