INTEGRATED SUSTAINABLE PROCESSING STRATEGIES TO SIMULTANEOUSLY EXTRACT AND BIOTRANSFORM COMPOUNDS OF INTEREST FROM BREWERY MALT BAGASSE (A BIOREFINERY APPROACH)

• Grant number: 25/10780-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: November 15, 2025
• End date: July 29, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Juliana Alves Macedo
• Grantee: Juliana Alves Macedo
• Host Investigator: Juliana Maria Leite Nobrega de Moura Bell
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States
• Associated research grant: 20/07015-7 - PBIS - Integrated Biotechnological Platform of Healthy Ingredients, AP.NPOP

Abstract

This project is linked to NPOP-PBIS (Integrated Biotechnology Platform for Healthy Ingredients, FAPESP process No. 2020/07015-7; more specifically, the "Integrated Biotechnology Platform II (PBI II) - Obtaining phenolic extracts from agricultural waste with application in functional foods", which is under my coordination, and seeks to add value to national agro-industrial by-products as a source of phenolic compounds (CF) for the development of new functional food ingredients. In these four years of project, the platform has made great advances in the evaluation of the potential of different phenolic extracts from by-products of highly relevant production chains in the State of São Paulo, and in the development of ingredients applicable to different products based on these extracts. Despite this, an important bottleneck has clearly been observed in the development of our platform: the development of scalable, environmentally friendly processes that produce bioactive extracts with the functionality of traditional processes. The Prof. Juliana Bell, member of the NPOP-PBIS international advisory committee, has extensive experience in the development and application of emerging, environmentally friendly technologies for the extraction and fractionation of the main components of food. His work is part of the tradition of the renowned UC DAVIS School of Food Science and Technology of working with local food producers to develop means of sustainable production of healthier foods. The ultimate objective of this project is to develop bio- guided downstream processing strategies to isolate bioactive phenolics, proteins and soluble fiber from brewers' spent grain, with the desired functional/biological properties for potential industrial applications. Therefore, this project aims to contribute to resolving an important bottleneck in the NPOP-PBIS phenolic compounds platform, expanding our experience and knowledge about clean extraction strategies and concentration of phenolic bioactives from waste, for the development of functional ingredients for foods. (AU)