Process for recovering protein and fibre compositions from brewers' spent grain

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12369602-B2
Application number	US-202017633864-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2020
Priority date	Aug 9, 2019
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure provides processes for the production of protein and fibre compositions from brewer's spent grain. The process comprises micronising dried brewer's spent grain using a pin mill and fractionating the micronised brewer's spent grain using an air classifier. The present disclosure also provides protein and fibre compositions, processes for producing food products incorporating the protein or fibre compositions, and food products comprising the protein or fibre compositions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for producing a fibre composition and a protein composition, wherein the process comprises:
a) providing dried brewer's spent grain having a moisture content of 10% by weight or less;
b) micronising the dried brewer's spent grain using a pin mill to provide micronised brewer's spent grain having a particle size (d50) of from 30 to 130 μm and a particle size (d90) of from 150 to 350 μm, as determined by laser diffraction, wherein “d50” refers to the size at which 50% of a composition's volume comprises particles with a size less than the specified value and “d90” refers to the size at which 90% of a composition's volume comprises particles with a size less than the specified value;
c) fractionating the micronised brewer's spent grain using an air classifier to provide a coarse fraction and a fine fraction; and
d) collecting the coarse fraction to provide the fibre composition and collecting the fine fraction to provide the protein composition, wherein the fibre composition has a total combined content of protein and dietary fibre (% dry matter by weight) of between 70 and 100% and a ratio of protein to dietary fibre (dry matter by weight) of between 0.30 and 0.55; and, wherein the protein composition has a total combined content of protein and dietary fibre (% dry matter by weight) of between 80 and 100% and a ratio of protein to dietary fibre (dry matter by weight) of between 0.75 and 1.5;
wherein the total dietary fibre content is determined by AOAC 991.43 and the total protein content is determined by the Kjeldahl method using a conversion factor of 6.25.

2. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the brewer's spent grain comprises spent barley and, optionally, one or more other spent grains or other starchy material selected from the group consisting of rice, corn, sorghum and cassava.

3. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the brewer's spent grain is the spent grain obtained from a brewing process in which the grains used for brewing comprise barley in an amount of at least 40% by weight, based on the total dry matter weight of the grains.

4. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the brewer's spent grain has a total dietary fibre content (% dry matter by weight) of from 48% to less than 62%, as determined by AOAC 991.43, and a total protein content (% dry matter by weight) of greater than 20% to less than 35%, as determined by the Kjeldahl method using a conversion factor of 6.25.

5. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the pin mill is a counter-rotating pin mill.

6. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the micronised brewer's spent grain has a bimodal particle size distribution.

7. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the fibre composition has a particle size (d90) of between 200 and 500 μm, as determined by laser diffraction.

8. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the fibre composition has a total dietary fibre content (% dry matter by weight) of greater than 55%, as determined by AOAC 991.43.

9. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the fibre composition has a total insoluble fibre content (% dry matter by weight) of between 55 and 75%, and a total soluble dietary fibre content (% dry matter by weight) of between 0 and 10%, as determined by AOAC 2011.25.

10. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the total dietary fibre content (dry matter by weight) of the fibre composition is at least 10% higher than the total dietary fibre content (dry matter by weight) of the brewer's spent grain, as determined by AOAC 991.43.

11. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the total protein content (dry matter by weight) of the fibre composition is at least 16% lower than the total protein content (dry matter by weight) of the brewer's spent grain, as determined by the Kjeldahl method using a conversion factor of 6.25.

12. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the protein composition has a particle size (d90) of between 20 and 200 μm, as determined by laser diffraction.

13. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the protein composition has a total protein content (% dry matter by weight) of at least 33%, as determined by the Kjeldahl method using a conversion factor of 6.25.

14. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the total protein content (dry matter by weight) of the protein composition is at least 19% higher than the total protein content (dry matter by weight) of the brewer's spent grain, as determined by the Kjeldahl method using a conversion factor of 6.25.

15. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the total dietary fibre content (dry matter by weight) of the protein composition is at least 13% lower than the total dietary fibre content (dry matter by weight) of the brewer's spent grain, as determined by AOAC 991.43.

16. A process for producing a fibre composition and a protein composition, wherein the process comprises:
a) providing dried brewer's spent grain having a moisture content of 10% by weight or less;
b) micronising the dried brewer's spent grain using a pin mill to provide micronized brewer's spent grain having a particle size (d50) of from 30 to 130 μm and a particle size (d90) of from 150 to 350 μm, as determined by laser diffraction, wherein “d50” refers to the size at which 50% of a composition's volume comprises particles with a size less than the specified value and “d90” refers to the size at which 90% of a composition's volume comprises particles with a size less than the specified value;
c) fractionating the micronised brewer's spent grain using an air classifier to provide a first coarse fraction and a first fine fraction;
d) micronising the first coarse fraction to provide a micronised first coarse fraction;
e) fractionating the micronised first coarse fraction to provide a second coarse fraction and a second fine fraction;
f) collecting the second coarse fraction to provide the fibre composition, wherein the fibre composition has a total combined content of protein and dietary fibre (% dry matter by weight) of between 70 and 100% and a ratio of protein to dietary fibre (dry matter by weight) of between 0.30 and 0.55; and
g) combining the first and second fine fractions to provide the protein composition, wherein the protein composition has a total combined content of protein and dietary fibre (% dry matter by weight) of between 80 and 100% and a ratio of protein to dietary fibre (dry matter by weight) of between 0.75 and 1.5;
wherein the total dietary fibre content is determined by AOAC 991.43 and the total protein content is determined by the Kjeldahl method using a conversion factor of 6.25.

17. A process for producing a fibre composition and a protein composition, wherein the process comprises:
a) providing dried brewer's spent grain having a moisture content of 10% by weight or less;
b) micronising the dried brewer's spent grain using a pin mill to provide micronized brewer's spent grain having a particle size (d50) of from 30 to 130 μm and a particle size (d90) of from 150 to 350 μm, as determined by laser diffraction, wherein “d50” refers to the size at which 50% of a composition's volume comprises particles with a size less than the specified value and “d90” refers to the size at which 90% of a composition's volume comprises particles with a size less than the specified value;
c) fractionating the micronised brewer's spent grain using an air classifier to provide a first coarse fraction and a first fine fraction;
d) fractionating the first coarse fraction to provide a second coarse fraction and a second fine fraction;
e) collecting the second coarse fraction t

Assignees

• Anheuser Busch Inbev Sa

Inventors

• Münch Steffen
• Valdeperez Daniel

Classifications

• A23K10/38

  from distillers' or brewers' waste · CPC title

• C12F3/10

  from distillery slops · CPC title

• B02C11/08

  Cooling, heating, ventilating, conditioning with respect to temperature or water content (conditioning grain before milling B02B1/08; air-conditioning or ventilating in general F24F) · CPC title

• B02C11/02

  Breaking up amassed particles, e.g. flakes · CPC title

• B02C9/04

  Systems or sequences of operations; Plant · CPC title