Integrated fractionation processes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae from the brewing industry for the production of high value-added biomolecules

Abstract

Currently, the yeast biomass is an underutilized waste product of brewing industry. Moreover, the use of this biomass can be an economical source for the production of 5'-ribonucleotides, which are high added value by products and have wide applications in pharmaceutical and food industry. Faced with these issues, this project aims to develop a cost and yield effective methodology for the production of 5'-ribonucleotides from the residual yeast biomass from brewery industry. For this, evaluation of the efficiency of individual cell disruption methods (bead mill, autolysis, acid hydrolysis) and integrated cell disruption methods (autolysis followed by bead mill and bead mill followed by acid hydrolysis) will be made aiming to obtain maximum RNA yield. After cell disruption and RNA content extraction, the 5'-ribonucleotides will be produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of RNA using commercial 5'-phosphodiesterase. Finally, a scale up and economic analysis will be performed in order to determine the profitability and financial viability of the methodology developed in this project. The proposed approach indicates an excellent strategy, since a better use of yeast residue from fermentation processes can open up a range of applications and add value to this product, making the industrial sectors more profitable. (AU)