Brewer's Saccharomyces yeast biomass: characteristics and potential applications

Cleanup of industrial effluents containing heavy metals: a new opportunity of valorising the biomass produced by brewing industry

“…Yeast surplus is often merely seen as a waste material that has to be disposed of safely (Ferreira et al 2010). For many brewers, a typical goal has been to identify the way of increasing the value of surplus yeast produced.…”

“…Brewers also mix yeast cells with spent grains and cold break, also called trub (precipitate, predominantly composed by protein and polyphenol formed during cooling of wort); this mixture is used in the rations for monogastric animals (Huige 2006). Yeast cells can also be included in formulations for fish nutrition (Ferreira et al 2010). The bitter hop residues limits the use of brewing yeasts since it reduces palatability for humans or pets.…”

“…Others applications can be considered such as ingredient of microorganism culture media (yeast extract) or in the production of food ingredients (flavour enhancers, thick-ening, and emulsifying stabilisers) (Huige 2006;Ferreira et al 2010). An ambitious route can be the recovery and purification of fine chemicals for use in pharmaceutical industries, analytical and biochemical research laboratories, such as enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, cytochromes and the components of DNA and RNA (Boulton and Quain 2001;Huige 2006); however, the last way has yet to be exploited because of the high initial investment required and the uncertainty of finding a market (Boulton and Quain 2001).…”

Yeast: World’s Finest Chef

“…So, today yeasts are acquiring increasingly more attention for other uses, besides the production of alcoholic beverages and the baling industry. The products of modern yeast biotechnology form the backbone of many commercially important sectors, including functional foods (for animals, fish and humans), health food supplements, including additives, conditioners and flavouring agents, as pharmaceutical products, for the production of microbiology media and extracts, as well as livestock feed or even as agents of detoxifying effluents containing heavy metals [70,71].…”

“…Yeasts have been fed to animals for more than a hundred years, either in the form of yeast fermented mash produced on the farm, yeast by-products from breweries or distilleries, or commercial yeast products specifically produced for animal feeding. In animals, including pets, this practice is used to compensate for the amino acid and vitamin deficiencies of cereals [73,74], and in fish as a substitute for other ingredients [71].…”