M. F. Villegas-Torres (1), J. Ward (1), G. Lye (1)* (1) University College London, Biochemical Engineering Department, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT, London, UK *Corresponding author: g.lye@ucl.ac.uk Abstract Distillers dried grain and solubles (DDGS) is a by-product from distilleries and breweries, currently used as animal feed. It contains mainly protein, fats and residual carbohydrates, making it an ideal feedstock for biocatalytic processes. In addition, due to the current expansion of the biofuel industry in the UK, a dramatic increase in DDGS production is expected. Therefore, it is of interest to develop manufacturing processes of industrially relevant compounds implementing DDGS as starting material. In this work, we focused on the extraction of the protein fraction (up to 40%), which is expected to have a high frequency of specific amino acids as wheat grain is mostly gluten, a highly elastic protein composed of glutamine and proline. Glutamine has been extensively used as injury treatment, and muscle growth; and because of its physical characteristics can be an ideal source for biomaterials manufacture. We optimized a protein extraction process involving alkali solvent-based extraction, implementing a Central Composite Design with a Response Surface Method. The optimized extraction method is a novel approach that resulted in full hydrolysis of the extracted protein. This method can be applied at industrial scale, and is the starting point for the future biocatalytic production of pharmaceutical intermediates and biomaterials. Key-words: Protease, DDGS, Chemical extraction, Lipid extraction.

Extraction of the protein fraction of dry distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), implementing chemical methods

249th National Meeting (2015)

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