PLANT BASED DAIRY ALTERNATIVES 2022
Turning spent brewer’s
yeast into high-quality
vegan protein
Foodtech firm launches demo scale-up
for ingredient innovation
Upcycling for sustainable nutrition is the mission
driving Swiss-based Yeastup AG. After the
fermentation process, the yeast cells used by
breweries become inactive and can no longer be used
in production. However, these by-products contain protein
and fiber which Yeastup founders Daniel Gnos and
Urs Briner extract in a sustainable and energy-efficient,
closed-loop process using specialist know-how.
Around 10,000 metric tons of spent yeast are produced
worldwide every day in beer production, with around 90
percent of this utilized as animal feed. However, Daniel
Gnos, founder and CEO of Yeastup AG, wanted to take
things a step further and so, together with co-founder
Urs Briner and a small team, decided to break new
ground.
"Yeast has enormous nutrient density as it contains
high-quality protein and fiber. Our goal was to use this
directly for the growing protein needs of the world's
population, without an energy- and resource-intensive
detour via livestock farming and all its associated ecological
side-effects," explains Gnos. So he combined his
experience from the brewing industry and the development
of protein-rich foods and, in collaboration with the
FHNW University of Life Sciences in Switzerland, various
engineering firms and equipment suppliers, devised a
scalable process for isolating the valuable yeast components.
Upcycling for a sustainable circular economy
In the upcycling of spent yeast, the yeast emulsion
is first standardized and then subjected to gentle cell
disruption, which leaves the released components of
the yeast cells largely intact. The next step is the removal
of unpleasant flavors, such as hop bitters from
the brewing process, followed by the purification and
38 · September/October 2022 ¦ international-dairy.com
fractionation of the ingredients to produce a highly pure
and tasteless protein powder with optimal processing
properties. This product, called Yeastin, can be used in
a variety of ways for human nutrition. Another valuable
substance is polysaccharides from the yeast cell wall,
especially beta-glucans and mannan, which are marketed
as high-quality dietary fibers under the UpFiber
brand and are of particular interest to the supplement
Yeast has enormous
nutrient density
as it contains
high-quality
protein and fiber
(photo: Yeastup AG)
/international-dairy.com
