PROECO
Utilization of functional substances in post-fermentation residues of probiotic bacteria
Scheda del progetto
The market for probiotics is expanding due to their increasingly established health benefits. The production of probiotics leads to the generation of waste (so-called spent broths) that contain substances that are still valuable. PRO-ECO wants to minimise the amount of waste to be disposed of from the probiotic production process. To do this, it studies how to extract valuable components from the spent broths to produce postbiotic beverages and supplements (i.e. the remaining bacterial cells, which will undergo inactivation, the by-products or post-fermentation metabolites). Once extracted and purified, the postbiotic compounds can be used as functional ingredients, cosmetics and personal care products, feed additives and agricultural applications.
Contact:
Giancarla Dondi, gdondi@progefarm.it
To minimise waste and maximise resource utilisation, some manufacturers explore options for recovering resources from fermentation waste. So far unexplored is the recovery of biomass (viable and non-viable) that is not separated from the liquid part during the concentration procedures that follow fermentation and precede freeze-drying.
PRO-ECO's idea is innovative because it combines the production of probiotics with the production of postbiotics in order to maximise production and reduce waste and costs. The innovation also has international relevance, given the type of market for these products and the company's presence in international markets.
The first expected and immediate impact that will be obtained from the project is the savings on waste disposal (20,000 / 50,000 € / year). The second impact is the obtaining of a new type of ingredient, easier to market as it is not pharmaceutical but food grade.