The Economic Potential of Brewer’s Spent Grain (BSG) as a Biomass Feedstock

This paper analyzes a pro-forma economic market and supply chain system for the reuse of a lignocellulose (brewer’s spent grain) in an industrial biotechnology environment. An extant literature review was conducted, followed by a technical analysis of BSG, and the development of a supply chain system and economic market analysis based upon a participant brewing company and industry experts. In this paper, it was found that, even with the potential for future improvements in the conversion of brewer’s spent grain (BSG) from an efficiency standpoint, this industrial residual is supply chain prohibitive as a biofeedstock in comparison to other lignocellulose materials, therefore, centralized market relationships would not be advantageous for sellers and buyers. Future research should consider the viability of centralized supply chain structures for alternatives that may exist as future bio-feedstocks.