By Teena Monteleone

U of S research says compound discovered in ethanol wastewater could be liquid gold

Jun 1, 2024 | 6:00 AM

What started as a study to upcycle protein from wastewater produced at Saskatchewan’s ethanol plants has led to far more than Dr. Martin Reaney could have imagined.

“There are a lot of implications in this one little molecule.”

Reaney and a team of researchers at the University of Saskatchewan were analyzing the thin stillage, which is used as animal feed, when they discovered a compound called glyceryl phosphoryl choline or ‘GPC’ – a nerve feeding agent for the body that can help with memory and cognition. In Korea, GPC is sold as a pharmaceutical drug for Alzheimer’s patients.

“In Canada, it’s not a prescription medicine. It’s just sold on the internet,” said Reaney. “So the team partnered with a Korean group to explore potential health applications for this compound.

Reaney said the use of GPC goes far beyond Alzheimer’s disease. He said it has also been shown to improve any form of intellectual health, can be used to enhance performance of athletes and help reverse the loss of strength in the elderly.

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While work is being done with companies in Korea to potentially commercialize the product, Reaney said ethanol companies that operate in Canada using barley or wheat as the input, instead of corn, would offer the best source of the wastewater needed to isolate the compound because they produce so much of it every day.

“Each of the ethanol plants have a different process for their wastewater. The Pound-Maker Agventures facility in Lanigan pumps water to the cattle feed lot and they thrive when they drink this liquid. It’s not a waste because the material is so nutrient dense that the cows are probably very smart and buff from having consumed it,” he said.

The other two Saskatchewan based plants, the Co-Op ethanol complex at Belle Plaine, and North West Terminals facility in Unity, dry the liquid material to make a syrup they pour on the grain fiber and sell it as a cattle feed product called Distillers Dried Grains with Soluble (DDGS) but Reaney said it’s a costly process that doesn’t yield a lot of profit.

“This material [GPC] is going to be used quite widely and made very available for people looking to improve the health of their nerves and there are many reasons why people have problems with nerves and muscles. So, based on my understanding of the market this could become a very large home for a lot of grain products,” he said.

“As a producer, I would consider the fermentation of barley and wheat more economically viable than corn, given it leads to this product, which corn does not.”

Reaney said his research team applied for funding with a Korean group. In Canada they will continue to study the fermentation of barley and wheat, while in Korea, the safety, efficacy and application of the GPC as a health product will be thoroughly investigated.

Reaney said he’s amazed the research has come to a point where they are aiming to make clinically and commercially useful products from stillage that’s now used as animal feed.

“From my point of view, the science of the effects of GPC on health is a big field and the thing that continues to amaze me is how broad the implications are from this one little molecule. When we started this, the idea of processing to upcycle wastewater …I was never thinking it would be helpful in weight training, exam performance, Alzheimer’s and loss of strength in the elderly.”

He suggested the products could be even more valuable than the ethanol from the processing plants.

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