This activity seeks to develop a new value chain proposition for Barley brewers’ spent grain (BSG), a waste by-product of barley processing, by applying a combination of advanced technologies to pre-treat barley BSG to allow for integrative preparation of safe and value-added BSG-derived high protein and high fiber ingredients with enhanced nutritional and functional attributes.

• Optimized and scalable innovative processes for the pre-treatment of barley BSG using each or a combination of advanced technologies, including ultrasound (US), microwave (MW), pulse electrical field (PEF), Ohmic heating (OH) and/or enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE) for the generation of high protein and high fiber value added food ingredients with enhanced nutritional and functional properties (year 1-3).
• New knowledge on the impact of advanced technologies on the microbial, nutritional, techno-functional, bio-functional, and sensory properties of treated BSG and derived ingredients (year 2-5)
• New high-protein and high- fiber food product prototypes formulated using the new BSG derived ingredients (year 3-5)
• Eco-efficiency scores for optimized pre-treatment of BGS by advanced technologies for the production of value-added BSG products (year 2-5).

Barley brewers’ spent grain (BSG) represents a very abundant and nutrient rich by-product of the brewing industry with an average annual global production of approximately 39 million tons. It accounts for 85% of the total residues from the brewing operations, and almost 30% of the starting barley malted grain, which ends up mainly in landfills or sold cheaply as animal feed. The valorisation and utilisation of this valuable food waste is therefore of great interest in terms of sustainability, and increased up-cycling of processing waste-streams to reduce food waste and support the circularity of agri-food systems.

Because of its low price, large availability throughout the year and its high fibre (50% w/w), protein (up to 30% w/w), and phenolics content, barley BSG is a promising untapped low cost resource for human nutrition with possible beneficial effects on health. Yet, BSG use as food ingredient is still limited due to its complex lignocellulosic cell structure, poorly soluble protein aggregates and consequent poor technological performance. The effective utilisation of BSG for valorisation requires pre-treatments techniques that can preserve it, but also disrupt the naturally protein and polysaccharides ordered for efficient functionalization and solubilisation. In this context, advanced pre-treatment and processing technologies, such as pulse electrical field (PEF), microwave (MW), Ohmic heating (OH), ultrasound (US) and enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE) modifications or a combination of them have been identified as versatile, clean and eco-efficient processes to increase the extraction and functionalization of valuable components from by-products and improve their, nutritional, techno- and bio-functional and sensory properties. Based on the above, this research aims to apply scalable advanced technologies for the pre-treatment of barley BSG to allow for integrative preparation of safe and value added barley BSG-derived protein and fiber enriched ingredients with improved nutritional, techno and bio- functional, and sensory attributes.