LWV22088 Protein from Residual Microbial Cells (PROMESS) (BO-57-002-012)

The overarching objective of PROMESS is to create a solid fundamental knowledge basis on the functional performance of spent yeast (and their components) in food products, and how the functional performance can be altered by existing and novel processing techniques. This fundamental knowledge basis will be translated into guidelines for a tangible, applied biorefinery process to isolate functional (high-protein) food ingredients from spent yeast (Brewers’ and Bakers’ SY). The PROMESS consortium will identify a target food ingredient and will develop a biorefinery process to isolate that fraction from spent yeast with its specific functionality and hurdles as point of departure. PROMESS will focus on the relation between (isolated) fraction functionality and biorefinery process in an iterative value chain and back-engineering approach. A range of cell disruption and biorefinery techniques will be assessed prior to choosing the most optimal processing strategy that will subsequently be further developed. The PROMESS approach will aim at maximum feedstock use by focussing on functional fractions that comprise other yeast constituents beside protein (and minimal processing), rather than focussing on maximum purity (and limited functionality).