Integrated cascades of PROcesses for the extraction and valorisation of proteins and bioactive molecules from Legumes, Fungi and Coffee agro-industrial side streams
IGV GmbH participates in the research project "PROLIFIC" with the extraction and utilization of valuable substances from residues of the legume, mushroom and coffee processing
Agro-industrial residual biomass, side streams and food production by-products such as legumes, fungi and coffee are likely to constitute rich sources of valuable ingredients. Their potential is yet to be fully realised. The Prolific project will apply a range of processing technologies to agro-industrial residues of legumes, fungi and coffee in order to recover significant amounts of proteins/peptides, fibres and other value-added compounds.
Once extracted by economically and environmentally sustainable protocols, the outputs will undergo enzymatic modification and conditioning techniques in an upscaled, industrially-relevant environment. Ultimately, this will provide viable amounts of the compounds and fractions necessary to produce 16 prototypes for the food, feed, packaging and cosmetic sectors. The Prolific project’s R&D&I activities and partners are streamlined around a core innovation cycle, principally driven by industrial end-users that know precisely what their customers need and the what are the technical and industrial demands of their sector.
Project objectives
The overall objective of the Prolific project is to apply, validate and scale up an integrated array of processes for recovering significant amounts of proteins/peptides and other value-added compounds from the agro-industrial residues of legumes (seeds of peas, beans and chickpeas), fungi (cuttings and mycelia of different species) and coffee (silver skin and non-compliant roasted and unroasted green seeds). The Prolific project will pursue the following specific objectives:
- Mapping the availability and sustainability of the chosen feedstocks (legumes, fungi and coffee residues) during and after the project;
- Defining the specifications and compliance of residue-derived compounds with existing regulations;
- Establishing flexible and fully-scalable biorefinery extraction protocols for isolating proteins and bioactive compounds from plant residues;
- Converting extracted fractions into valuable ingredients tailored to the specific final applications of industrial end-users;
- Selecting, validating and demonstrating the use of extracted/converted fractions as ingredients in the food and in the cosmetic sector; as ingredients and additives in packaging sector and as ingredients in the animal feed sector;
- Successful disseminating the project results and preparing them for efficient exploitation.
Expected impacts
The overall impact of the Prolific project is to address specific challenges posed by the valorisation of untapped biomass streams. Specifically, these include:
- Addressing the present European food policy for the provision of safe, nutritious, high quality and affordable food to European consumers by valorising the increasing amounts of side-streams from the processing of legumes, fungi and coffee;
- Become the leading solutions’ provider for ingredients/additive alternatives or complementary to those currently available
- Contributing to meet the increasing demand for bio-based, active, and biodegradable molecules and polymers to be used for polymer formulations and applications;
- Introducing and validating bio-polymers and green additives in packaging applications
- Growing the bio-plastics sector and thus mitigating climate change;
- Contributing to produce new generation of functional feed products also aiming at reducing the dependency from antibiotics
- Contributing to produce innovative cosmetic products using more sustainable bio-based ingredients.
IGV GmbH is a member of a broad European consortium in the PROLIFIC project, funded under the Horizon 2020 program "BBI.2017.R4: Proteins and other bioactive ingredients from side streams and residues". The project, involving 16 project partners from 8 European countries - Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Cyprus, France and Switzerland; including scientists, companies and other practitioners, runs from 01.09.2018 to 31.08.2022. The consortium is coordinated by Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Switzerland.
For more information about the project, please contact us. a. on the website https://www.bbi-europe.eu/projects/prolific
Contact
Martha Walter
Research and Product Management
Tel. +49 33200 89-214
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This project has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 790157. |
