An important dimension of corporate responsibility is sustainability in environmental terms. AGRANA as an energyintensive industrial concern has been working on this front for years. In pursuit of a circular flow of resources that maximises the utilisation of materials and energy, select agricultural raw materials are turned not only into the wellknown consumer foods and ingredients for the food industry, but also into valuable co-products. They are used by food manufacturers and in pet food, as fertiliser and even in energy generation. The result is the almost complete utilisation of the agricultural raw materials involved. In turn, the reduction of waste means less impact on the environment.
By the nature of the inputs and processes in the different businesses, most of the by-product use occurs in the Sugar and Starch segments, although the Fruit segment, too, utilises some co-products.
Sugar segment
Beet pulp
The spent beet pulp from the extraction tower still contains nutrients that make it valuable as animal feed: residual sugar as well as protein, raw fibre and minerals. The pulp is ideally suited for feeding to ruminants. For this purpose, it is pressed, dried, molasses is added and the product is pelleted for sale. In addition to being marketed as a feedstuff, beet pulp is used to produce biogas, reducing the need for natural gas as an energy source.
Molasses
Molasses is the viscous juice produced in centrifugation, the last stage of sugar production. Molasses still contains about 50% sugar and, like the beet pulp, is rich in protein and minerals. It is used in this form as feed or for fermentation purposes. The sugar in the molasses can be partly recovered in a further process step known as chromatography. The resulting residual molasses, containing only 25% sugar, is used mainly for adding to dried beet pulp and thus also enters the feed chain.
Beet tops
The beet tops and tips are removed during the initial washing of the beet, then mechanically dewatered and sold directly to end-users. The main buyers are biogas plants, which use the biomass as a renewable energy source. The beet tops are also used as animal feed.
Carbokalk
“Carbokalk” (dewatered carbonation mud) is a premium calcium carbonate fertiliser produced during beet juice purification. It is sold to farmers for soil improvement.
Starch segment
The widest range of co-products is found in the Starch segment, thanks to the variety of agricultural raw materials used in its processes (potato, corn, wheat and triticale).
Wheat germ
Wheat germ is a by-product of corn starch production. With its high content of corn oil, it is used for oil extraction by the downstream food industry.
DDGS (distillers dried grains with solubles)
As a co-product of bioethanol production, DDGS, a highprotein feedstuff , is produced from corn, wheat, triticale and concentrated sugar beet juice. This feed product, which AGRANA successfully markets under the “ActiProt” brand, represents an important contribution to the overall environmental and economic balance sheet of the bioethanol production activities. It has the effect of reducing Austrian imports of soy-based feedstuffs from overseas by about one-quarter. ActiProt is employed largely as a high-protein straight feedstuff for ruminants and monogastrics (mammals with a single-chambered stomach, such as swine).
Corn gluten meal
Corn gluten is extracted in a gentle process as a by-product of corn starch production. Next to its defining protein content, it contains large amounts of xanthophyll. This straight feedstuff, which is also available in an organic grade, is used mostly in compound feeds formulated for ruminants and monogastrics.
Corn gluten feed
Corn gluten feed, another co-product of corn starch production, consists of a mix of corn steep liquor (the water in which the corn has been soaked to swell the kernels, and consisting mainly of soluble corn gluten), corn bran (the kernel hulls and fibre) and fine particles of kernel. Corn gluten feed is used primarily as an ingredient in compound feds for ruminants and monogastrics.
Potato protein
Using a special thermal process known as coagulation, potato protein is recovered from the potato “liquor” (the slurry of grated potatoes) produced during starch extraction and is then carefully dried. Potato protein, by virtue of its content of digestible crude protein and its so-called “biological value” (a high content of the “limiting” amino acids lysine, methionine, cystine and cysteine) is a very high-quality form of protein and thus lends itself as a feedstuff for all species of livestock. Potato protein is also available in an organic grade.
Potato pulp
Potato pulp, which consists of the post-press cell residue of potatoes, is a further by-product of potato starch extraction and is marketed as a straight feedstuff, usually direct to farmers.
Potato liquor concentrate
Potato liquor concentrate is thickened potato liquor produced in the course of potato starch separation. As an organic complete fertiliser that is especially high in proteins (and therefore nitrogen) and minerals, this concentrate is used in agriculture and forestry, in vegetable and fruit production and in horticulture.
Bio-Agenasol
Bio-Agenasol is an organic fertiliser made up of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) from alcohol distillation, mixed with residual molasses from sugar production.
Fruit segment
Pomace
In the Fruit segment, the most notable by-product is pomace, the spent fruit pulp from juice concentrate production. The recovered pomace is used for pectin production in the food industry, as animal feed and for heat generation.
