A NOVEL GREEN BIOREFINERY CONCEPT

A NOVEL GREEN BIOREFINERY CONCEPTMaría Santamaría-Fernández // Section for Sustainable Biotechnology // Aalborg University

2 │ MARIA SANTAMARIA-FERNANDEZ // Green Biorefining Seminar // JUNE 29, 2018

THE ORGANOFINERY CONCEPT – Protein

feed, biogas and ferti l izer


PROGRESS ALONG THE PROJECT

PROTEIN

BIOREFINING

LAB-SCALE

PROTEIN

EXTRACTION YIELDS

AMINO ACID

COMPOSITION

1


GREEN JUICE

PRESS CAKE

4

Red clover

Clover grass

Alfalfa

Oilseed radish

Screw pressing

50-60% ww

40-50% ww

Mechanical fractionation of the fresh crops

into green juice and press cake


GREEN JUICE

5

BROWN JUICE

PROTEIN

CONCENTRATE

Lactic acid fermentation Centrifugation

6-15% ww

Overall, between 3-8% of crops wet weight was

extracted into the protein concentrates

Lactobacillus salivarius BC 1OO1

37°C, overnight

Final pH 4.0-4.7

Lactic acid fermentation of green juices

and production of protein concentrates


Up to 23% of plant proteins were

recovered in the protein concentrates

23,4

17,1

15,1

12,1

0

5

10

15

20

25

Red clover Clover grass Alfalfa Oilseed radish

Crude protein recovery (%)

PROTEIN CONCENTRATES


The essential amino acids represented

53% of the true protein content

48%

53%

53%

53%

53%

366

374

346

349

397

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Soybeans*

Oilseed radish

Alfalfa

Clover grass

Red clover

Amino acid composition (g kg-1 DM)

Essential AA Non-essential AA

Essential AA for poultry: ARG, HIS, ILE; LEU; LYS, MET, PHE, THR, VAL

*Steenfeldt and Hammershøj, 2015


3%

5%

4%

4%

4%

174

197

183

185

211

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225

Soybeans*

Oilseed radish

Alfalfa

Clover grass

Red clover


Methionine Essential AA

Methionine is usually first- l imiting amino

acid in most poultry feeds

*Steenfeldt and Hammershøj, 2015



PROTEIN

BIOREFINING

LAB-SCALE

PROTEIN

BIOREFINING

DEMO-SCALE

PROTEIN

EXTRACTION YIELDS

AMINO ACID

COMPOSITION

1SCALABILITY AND

PRACTICALITY

PRODUCE PROTEIN

CONCENTRATE FOR

FEEDING TRIALS

2

Grass clover

feeding system

Screw press

Tank trailer

Fermentation

tank

Press cake,

screw conveyor

10 m3

fermentation tank

Sand

sedimentation tank

Filter sieve

200µm


Around 10 tons of wet protein concentrate

were produced from 444 tons of clover grass

FRESH CLOVER GRASS

444 tons

PRESS CAKE

223 tons

GREEN JUICE

177 tons

SILAGE BALES

WET PROTEIN CONCENTRATE

7 tons

DRY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE

1 tons

50% ww

40% ww

2% ww


717

72

67

1621

0

20

40

60

80

100

Grass clover - Demo scale Grass clover - Lab scale*

Crude protein

recovery (%)

Protein concentrate Press cake Brown juice Loss

*Santamaria-Fernandez et al., 2017

The overall protein recovery in the

protein concentrate was 7%


Content of amino acids was lower than in

protein concentrates produced at lab scale

48%

53%

53%

52%

366

397

349

294

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Soybeans**

Red clover -Lab scale*

Grass clover -Lab scale*

Grass clover -Demo scale


Essential AA Non-essential AA

*Santamaria-Fernandez et al., 2017

**Steenfeldt and Hammershøj, 2015



PROTEIN

BIOREFINING

LAB-SCALE

PROTEIN

BIOREFINING

DEMO-SCALE

PROTEIN

EXTRACTION YIELDS

AMINO ACID

COMPOSITION

1SCALABILITY AND

PRACTICALITY

PRODUCE PROTEIN

CONCENTRATE FOR

FEEDING TRIALS

2PLANT DEVELOPMENT

STAGE ON PROCESS

YIELDS

OPTIMAL HARVESTING

TIME

3

PROTEIN

BIOREFINING

OPTIMIZATION


Plants were harvested at different development

stages (DS) ensuring morphological changes

Chicory

Cichorium intybus

Red clover

Trifolium pratense

Timothy

Phleum pratense

DS1 ELONGATION

Main shoot

ELONGATION

40% full height

ELONGATION

Second internode

DS2 ELONGATION

5 to 9 internodes

INFLORESCENCE

EMERGENCE

Some buds visible

EARING

70% earing

DS3 INFLORESCENCE

EMERGENCE

First individual flowers (closed)

FLOWERING

Half way to full flowering


Crude protein content in the plants

significantly decreased with maturity

0

5

10

15

20

25

Chicory Red clover Timothy

Crude protein

content (%DM)

DS1 DS2 DS3

FRESH PLANTS


Protein extractabil i ty in protein concentrates

decreased significantly with maturity

0

20

40

60

80

100


Protein

extractability

DS1 DS2 DS3

g CP in Prot conc

kg DM plant


Production of protein concentrates also

decreased with maturity

0

50

100

150

200

250


Prot conc.

production

DS1 DS2 DS3

g dry Prot conc

kg DM plant

CONCLUSIONS & FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

• The Organofinery process allowed producing up to 235 kg dry protein concentrate per ton of

dried biomass.

• Laboratory-scale trials:

• Lactic acid fermentation-centrifugation method i.e. between 40-80% of proteins in green

juice can be recovered.

• Up to 42% of proteins in fresh biomass recovered in the protein concentrate.

• Several challenges to overcome in large scale production: separation of proteins and drying of

the protein concentrate.

• Protein concentrate good source of essestial amino acids for poultry.


FUTURE

PERSPECTIVESFresh

crop

Screw

pressing

Fermen-tation

Protein

separation

Drying

OPTIMIZATION

Food-grade

protein

concentrates?

Techono-

economical

analysis

Alternative

products e.g.

lactic acid

Nutritional value

of protein

concentrates

A NOVEL GREEN BIOREFINERY CONCEPT

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