A predictive tool for bio-based chemical extraction

该项目将解决癌症治疗药物和益生元等新产品开发中的重大挑战，首次实现从食品加工废物中可规模化地提取“毛状”果胶（更准确地称为副产品）。食品加工副产品目前用于动物饲料等低价值应用或送往垃圾填埋场，这导致全球温室气体排放量的第三大贡献。因此，从食品加工废弃物中开发这些新产品可以改善健康，增加农产品的价值并减少温室气体排放。目前的果胶提取方法不适合于毛状果胶的提取，因为在该过程中用作溶剂的酸会破坏毛状果胶的结构，因此必须开发新的方法。在果胶提取过程中使用微波作为加热源可以导致使用较温和的溶剂如水以规模提取毛状果胶的能力。然而，所提取的果胶的质量和产率是源植物材料、所用溶剂、温度和时间以及加热方法的复杂函数，并且目前对所有这些因素的影响或它们的相互依赖性的基本理解很少。为了应对这一挑战，提出的工作将开发一种工具来预测毛状果胶提取率和组成作为原料，提取条件和加热方法（微波或常规加热）的函数。该工具将被用来选择一个合适的英国食品工业合作产品的毛状果胶提取，并提出了一种新的提取工艺的设计。将对与拟议设计相关的运营和资本成本、环境足迹和安全问题进行初步评估。到项目结束时，将组建一个工业和学术合作伙伴联盟进行下一阶段的开发，这将是建立一个能够生产千克数量的毛状果胶的装置，并在人体试验中对其进行测试，以评估其潜在用途（例如在癌症治疗中或作为益生元改善肠道健康）。由于无法提取足够数量的毛状果胶，目前无法进行人体试验，因此该项目可能会对健康产生重大影响，并为将这些产品推向市场做出重大贡献。要开发的建模工具旨在将来适用于其他生物精炼单元操作。通过开发技术，从生物来源，特别是废物中生产我们所需的药物，化学品和燃料，减少对石化产品的依赖，是世界各地许多研究人员和公司的优先事项。该项目对生物质加工的基本理解将支持这一目标，使使用可持续工艺生产各种有益的生物化学品成为可能。

This project will address a major challenge in the development of new products such as cancer treatment drugs and prebiotics by enabling the scalable extraction of "hairy" pectins from food processing wastes (more correctly termed co-products) for the first time. Food processing co-products are currently used for low value applications such as animal feed or sent to landfill, which results in the third largest contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. Development of these new products from food processing wastes could therefore improve health, add value to agricultural products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.Current pectin extraction methods are unsuitable for hairy pectin extraction as the acid that is used as a solvent in the process damages the hairy pectin structures, and therefore a new method must be developed. Using microwaves as the heating source during pectin extraction may lead to the ability to extract hairy pectins at scale using milder solvents such as water. However, the quality and yield of the pectin extracted is a complex function of the source plant material, the solvent used, temperature and time as well as heating method, and there is currently very little fundamental understanding of the influence of all of these factors or their interdependence. To address this challenge, the work proposed will develop a tool to predict hairy pectin extraction yield and composition as a function of the feedstock, extraction conditions and heating method (microwave or conventional heating). This tool will be used to select a suitable UK food industry co-product for hairy pectin extraction and propose a design for a novel extraction process. A preliminary assessment of the operating and capital costs, the environmental footprint and the safety issues associated with the proposed design will be made. By the end of the project, a consortium of industrial and academic partners will be assembled for the next stage of development, which will be to build a rig capable of producing kilogram-quantities of hairy pectins and test them in human trials to assess their potential uses (e.g in cancer treatment or as prebiotics to improve gut health). Human trials are currently not possible as sufficient quantities of hairy pectin cannot be extracted, and this project could therefore lead to significant impacts on health and make a major contribution to the effort to bring these products to market.The modelling tool to be developed is intended to be applicable in the future to other biorefinery unit operations. Reducing reliance on petrochemicals by developing technologies to generate the pharmaceuticals, chemicals and fuels we need from biological sources, waste products in particular, is a priority of many researchers and companies worldwide. The fundamental understanding of biomass processing that will come out of this project will support this goal, enabling the production of a wide range of beneficial biochemicals using sustainable processes.