Project Lead: Dr Omar Aboelazayem
Institution: Teesside University.
Partners: THREE BROTHERS BREWING COMPANY LIMITED.
Amount: £ 52k
Scheme: Commercialising Innovation.
Theme/Area: Integration into End Use Sectors/Net Zero/Circular Economy Transition (eg. products, supply chain, end-users).
Brief Description: The UK brewing industry generates over 500,000 tonnes of spent grains annually (the North-East generates an average of 65,000 tonnes). Meanwhile, biomanufacturers in the North-East (i.e. Fujifilm Diosynth/others) rely heavily on imported activated carbon for downstream purification. Our results demonstrate that hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) of brewing spent grains/yeast can produce an efficient adsorbent with properties similar to those of activated carbon. This will yield ~10,000 tonnes of in-house, high-quality activated charcoal to meet the needs of local biomanufacturers. The aim is to spin out a company for a technology upgrade from TRL5 to TRL6 and to be contracted to valorise waste on-site/locally, aligning with the UK’s circular bioeconomy goals.