Periodic Reporting for period 3 - INGREEN (Production of functional innovative ingredients from paper and agro-food side-streams through sustainable and efficient tailor-made biotechnological processes for food, feed, pharma and cosmetics)
Reporting period: 2021-12-01 to 2022-11-30
INGREEN was a BBIJU/EU funded project that developed functional innovative ingredients from paper and agro-food side-streams through biotechnological processes for food, feed, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and bio-degradable packaging. This 3.5 project developed new chemical building blocks, new materials, and new consumer products from whey, wheat and rye brans, and paper-milling wastewater.
INGREEN has demonstrated in real operational environments sustainable and efficient tailor-made biotechnologies and eco-friendly approaches to produce safe and/or health promoting microbial biomasses and biochemical raw materials, as well as functional ingredients such as prebiotic and pre-fermented food ingredients. Innovative bio-based prototypes have been developed for food, feed, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and packaging sectors.
INGREEN focused on finding new ways to use by-products and side-streams from the production processes of very common products, namely paper, bread and cheese. Biotechnology were be developed to capture these potential valuable sources of bio-based compounds suitable for exploitation. As the project developed products and production processes capable of valorising three currently underutilized types of biowaste, it has also provided a number of potential societal and environmental benefits scenarios when taken forward into commercialisation and scaled up production, including:
Lowering the environmental impact of existing production methods
Reducing wasting disposal and the carbon footprint of production
Improving the availability of health-promoting foods
Developing foods with longer shelf-life to reduce food waste
Increasing wellbeing by developing functional food ingredients
Improving the mineral availability of foods to tackle micronutrient malnutrition
Reducing the farming industry’s reliance on prophylactic antibiotics by developing animal feeds enriched with probiotics to benefit the health of livestock
Addressing global growing demand for bio-based chemicals
Changing societal attitudes towards bio-based products
Improving the industrial eco-sustainability.
INGREEN has demonstrated in real operational environments sustainable and efficient tailor-made biotechnologies and eco-friendly approaches to produce safe and/or health promoting microbial biomasses and biochemical raw materials, as well as functional ingredients such as prebiotic and pre-fermented food ingredients. Innovative bio-based prototypes have been developed for food, feed, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and packaging sectors.
INGREEN focused on finding new ways to use by-products and side-streams from the production processes of very common products, namely paper, bread and cheese. Biotechnology were be developed to capture these potential valuable sources of bio-based compounds suitable for exploitation. As the project developed products and production processes capable of valorising three currently underutilized types of biowaste, it has also provided a number of potential societal and environmental benefits scenarios when taken forward into commercialisation and scaled up production, including:
Lowering the environmental impact of existing production methods
Reducing wasting disposal and the carbon footprint of production
Improving the availability of health-promoting foods
Developing foods with longer shelf-life to reduce food waste
Increasing wellbeing by developing functional food ingredients
Improving the mineral availability of foods to tackle micronutrient malnutrition
Reducing the farming industry’s reliance on prophylactic antibiotics by developing animal feeds enriched with probiotics to benefit the health of livestock
Addressing global growing demand for bio-based chemicals
Changing societal attitudes towards bio-based products
Improving the industrial eco-sustainability.
The INGREEN project made substantial progress, in the 42 months, towards meeting the project main objectives. The results have led to several industrially relevant prototypes, which have been further demonstrated and optimized in the final year of the project. Furthermore, each of the industrial partners have been highly involved in evaluating the developed processes and biomass and functional ingredients. All of the prototype formulations have been assessed for commercial feasibility continuously during the development process.
Even with several restrictions due to COVID-19 having led to significant delays, the project met all of the objectives on time and within budget. WP2 studied benchmarking of technology components that are suitable for development from lab/small pilot scale through to larger/demonstrator scale operational in an industrially relevant environment, WP2 is now complete. WP3 showed the progress of actual technologies being optimised for the 1) production of whey derived cheese ripening prototypes, 2) GOS and LBA enriched whey for use in Cosmetic/Nutraceutical Prototypes 3) Pre-fermented ingredients from cereal side streams for use in bakery products and 4) PHA from Paper and Pulp wastewater biomasses for application in animal feeds and biobased packaging films. WP3 is now complete. All eight pilot systems have been successfully set up and optimized for demonstration scale trials. The pilot systems have been used to produce the following ingredients: LBA-enriched whey, GOS-enriched whey, purified LBA, purified GOS, safe yeast biomasses (Yarrowia lipolytica), wheat and rye preferments, PHA-enriched biomass, and purified PHA. These ingredients have been used in food, feed, cosmetics, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and packaging formulations and been validated in industrial environments in the final period. The technologies and products that have been produced have been optimised for scale up to larger pilot scale production models in WP4 and WP5 demonstration, both completed in the final year of the project.
The activities of WP7 successfully produced an extensive report on the hazardous chemicals being used in the project and the associated risks. By-products, ingredients and prototypes developed within INGREEN were critically evaluated for their registration and classification as hazardous for health and the environment, according to REACH, CLP, BPR and CLH regulations.
In the second reporting period, initial LCA studies have been elaborated for the production of PHA[1]enriched biomass, PHA-biopolymer film for bag-in-box application and PHA-enriched nutritious prebiotic feeds in WP6.
The processes for the production of innovative cheeses, bakery products and prefermented ingredients were also evaluated.
Also in WP6 for the TEA, the foundations were established to study the economic feasibility of the INGREEN innovative ingredients on a commercial scale manufacturing process and full analyses have been completed based on the input data from the demonstration activities.
Within WP8, dissemination activities continued and several internal exploitation workshops have been completed. It is expected that several of the prototypes currently being developed will result in exploitable intellectual property, like filed patent applications and trade secrets, a few of which have been initiated and will continue beyond the end of the project. Furthermore, the project website and social media accounts are active to broadly communicate about the project objectives and results, as reported under WP8.
Specifically in the 3rd reporting period, several newsletters were distributed, numerous posts were made on social media, results were presented at several scientific conferences and multiple scientific papers were published. Partners participated in external training events.
Regarding exploitation activities and the market approach, several internal exploitation workshops were held to make an inventory of market needs and size for commercialization and to identify exploitable results and exploitation of IPR, and to evaluate commercial scenarios.
Even with several restrictions due to COVID-19 having led to significant delays, the project met all of the objectives on time and within budget. WP2 studied benchmarking of technology components that are suitable for development from lab/small pilot scale through to larger/demonstrator scale operational in an industrially relevant environment, WP2 is now complete. WP3 showed the progress of actual technologies being optimised for the 1) production of whey derived cheese ripening prototypes, 2) GOS and LBA enriched whey for use in Cosmetic/Nutraceutical Prototypes 3) Pre-fermented ingredients from cereal side streams for use in bakery products and 4) PHA from Paper and Pulp wastewater biomasses for application in animal feeds and biobased packaging films. WP3 is now complete. All eight pilot systems have been successfully set up and optimized for demonstration scale trials. The pilot systems have been used to produce the following ingredients: LBA-enriched whey, GOS-enriched whey, purified LBA, purified GOS, safe yeast biomasses (Yarrowia lipolytica), wheat and rye preferments, PHA-enriched biomass, and purified PHA. These ingredients have been used in food, feed, cosmetics, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and packaging formulations and been validated in industrial environments in the final period. The technologies and products that have been produced have been optimised for scale up to larger pilot scale production models in WP4 and WP5 demonstration, both completed in the final year of the project.
The activities of WP7 successfully produced an extensive report on the hazardous chemicals being used in the project and the associated risks. By-products, ingredients and prototypes developed within INGREEN were critically evaluated for their registration and classification as hazardous for health and the environment, according to REACH, CLP, BPR and CLH regulations.
In the second reporting period, initial LCA studies have been elaborated for the production of PHA[1]enriched biomass, PHA-biopolymer film for bag-in-box application and PHA-enriched nutritious prebiotic feeds in WP6.
The processes for the production of innovative cheeses, bakery products and prefermented ingredients were also evaluated.
Also in WP6 for the TEA, the foundations were established to study the economic feasibility of the INGREEN innovative ingredients on a commercial scale manufacturing process and full analyses have been completed based on the input data from the demonstration activities.
Within WP8, dissemination activities continued and several internal exploitation workshops have been completed. It is expected that several of the prototypes currently being developed will result in exploitable intellectual property, like filed patent applications and trade secrets, a few of which have been initiated and will continue beyond the end of the project. Furthermore, the project website and social media accounts are active to broadly communicate about the project objectives and results, as reported under WP8.
Specifically in the 3rd reporting period, several newsletters were distributed, numerous posts were made on social media, results were presented at several scientific conferences and multiple scientific papers were published. Partners participated in external training events.
Regarding exploitation activities and the market approach, several internal exploitation workshops were held to make an inventory of market needs and size for commercialization and to identify exploitable results and exploitation of IPR, and to evaluate commercial scenarios.
The INGREEN project has generated a lot of positive results which have been published in scientific papers and presented at scientific conferences and other relevant (e.g. trade) events where important stakeholders were informed about the findings. This is important to establish a solid reputation and to be able to attract new business and research funding.
The prototypes and the demonstrated products obtained have great exploitation potential at industrial level and in some cases are ready for the marketability. In addition, INGREEN processes showed the potential to reduce environmental impacts compared to their benchmarks, both in terms of total ILCD and GWP impacts.
The exploitation strategy developed by INGREEN partners, was to ensure the applicability and the industrial scalability of the biotechnological processes and the INGREEN products formulations.
The INGREEN project also showed a significant impact on building employee’s career. This is demonstrated by the large number of young researchers who have worked on the project, developed new skills and expertise, and who could potentially, thanks to the industrialization of the processes developed, be hired by the INGREEN partners in the future.
The prototypes and the demonstrated products obtained have great exploitation potential at industrial level and in some cases are ready for the marketability. In addition, INGREEN processes showed the potential to reduce environmental impacts compared to their benchmarks, both in terms of total ILCD and GWP impacts.
The exploitation strategy developed by INGREEN partners, was to ensure the applicability and the industrial scalability of the biotechnological processes and the INGREEN products formulations.
The INGREEN project also showed a significant impact on building employee’s career. This is demonstrated by the large number of young researchers who have worked on the project, developed new skills and expertise, and who could potentially, thanks to the industrialization of the processes developed, be hired by the INGREEN partners in the future.