New study shows biofuel potential of Greek yoghurt waste

Leftover waste from manufacturing Greek yoghurt can be used to produce biofuels and reduce carbon emissions, a new study has said.

A team from Cornell University has shown it is possible to separate caproic acid and caprylic acid from liquid whey, which can either be used as an antimicrobial feed additive or be further processed into “drop-in” biofuels.

The study, published as “Temperature-Phased Conversion of Acid Whey Waste Into Medium-Chain Carboxylic Acids via Lactic Acid” in the journal Joule, opens the way for reprocessing the by-products of Greek yogurt manufacturing.

With two-thirds of the production process resulting in waste – in an industry which was producing 770,000 mt of finished product in US alone in 2015 – there is significant feedstock potential.