Highly efficient release of ferulic acid from agro-industrial by-products by cellulose-degrading enzymes (FerulCelluZyms)

Historically relevant crops Triticum aestívum L. and Secale cereále L. are widely used in the production of bakery products. From the total volume of grain cultivated, roughly 85% is used for obtaining starchy endosperm (flour), while the remaining part consisting of 10-15% bran and 3% of germ is discarded or utilized rather inefficiently. The limited value attached to bran is associated with their structural complexity, i.e. the presence of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin which makes this material suitable mostly as a feed supplement, while in food production their use is challenging. Underestimation of bran as a food ingredient brings about a rise in food waste. Based on FAOSTAT data estimated in 2018, wheat and rye bran increase corresponded to 110 Mt and 1.6 Mt, respectively. To valorize these by-products to food and pharmaceutical applications, additional pre-treatment is required. Considering the evidence of the presence of ferulic acid (FA) in plants, a compound in 99% covalently bound to arabinose residues in arabinoxylans via ester linkages and integrated into the cell-wall matrix, biorefinery process using cellulose and lignin-degrading enzymes (CL-DEs) will afford a selective production of this highly demanded bioactive. The limited information on the recovery of FA from wheat and especially rye bran through CL-DEs promoted the design of this work to focus on the evaluation of tnhe release of FA from this material applying green and cost-effective technology.

Project goal: Setting up and exploiting the process of small-scale biorefining process of highly lignocellulosic materials of plant origin for efficient release and recovery of ferulic acid.

Project tasks:

1) By-products acquisition and quality analysis. Collecting and initial processing of bran for further analysis and work, determining their proximate nutritional composition (WP1);

2) Development and optimization of FA release, extraction, and purification methods by means of green and cost-effective biotechnological approaches (WP2);

3) Safety and functional evaluation. Assessment of antimicrobial and prebiotic activities and permeability of cereal bran-derived FA (WP3).