Valorization of cereal by-product hemicelluloses: Fractionation and purity considerations

The biomass from cereal side streams is rich in valuable components, such as hemicelluloses. Among the hemicelluloses, arabinoxylans and β-glucans are the most acknowledged for potential health benefits. Numerous publications discuss the potential to use purified forms of these hemicelluloses for various applications. However, as the purification of hemicelluloses may not be economically feasible to upscale, sustainable and cost-effective methods are needed to make their valorization more realistic for industrial applications. Co-components present in hemicellulose-rich fractions may also provide added functionality, such as flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity. This review provides an overview on the feasibility of sustainably upscaling hemicellulose extraction processes, focusing on by-products from different cereal streams. We describe the hemicelluloses’ physicochemical properties and provide various possible applications of pure and impure fractions from small scale to pilot and industrial scale. Furthermore, real case examples on the industrial utilization of cereal side streams are enclosed. This review provides pathways for future research for developing the hemicellulose extraction methods to obtain fractions with optimized purity, and offers suggestions to valorize them.