Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

GrainFrac,a Canadian leader in providing fibre and protein solutions to food and beverage manufacturers, uses non-GMO Canadian barley to extract beta-glucan fibre as an ingredient with cholesterol lowering benefits. Beta-glucan is a soluble dietary fibre ingredient present in the cell walls of whole grains, such as barley and oats, and is a natural ingredient with multiple proven health benefits. After carefully extracting the fibre with a method that does not use solvents or enzymes, fibre-depleted flour starches are obtained as byproducts. This fibre-depleted flour is currently sold as low-cost animal feed or sent to landfill. The goal of this project is to evaluate the potential conversion of this product into high-value fermentable sugars with applications as biofuels or biochemicals and provide GrainFrac with actionable knowledge to refine this process and expand into new markets. This project will also improve our knowledge of enzymatic reactions on impure starch byproducts resulting from the emerging field of bioactive ingredient production. This project will contribute to improving the economic and environmental competitiveness of Canadian manufacturers of plant-based bioactive ingredients by providing access to new markets and reducing disposal costs and promote circular economics by reducing the volume of byproduct materials sent to landfill.