Antioxidants and plastics from byproducts of wheat milling

As a commodity, the least valuable part of the wheat grain is the bran – the outer coating of the kernel, which is typically sold as animal feed. Now researchers have developed a process to extract valuable biomolecules from this offal that could be used as antioxidants, prebiotics and even food packaging material.
The extraction process uses only hot, high pressure water and carbohydrate-active enzymes to harvest wheat bran’s hemicelluloses and oligosaccharides. This process allows these polysaccharides to retain their antioxidant properties. An article about the research is published in Green Chemistry (News Item KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 12 April 2017).
Click here for the news item.
Click here for the published article (3.43 MB).

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