Functional and sustainable application of residual yeast cell wall for multi-mycotoxin removal from brewing wort

This study evaluate the adsorptive capacity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae residual cell walls against multiple mycotoxins in beer wort, contributing to viable strategies for mitigating contaminants in the beer industry. The adsorbent was obtained by mechanical lysis using Ultra-Turrax (17,000 rpm, 5 min, seven cycles), followed by centrifugation and physicochemical characterization. Adsorption assays were performed in wort artificially contaminated with AFB₁ (2.0 ng/mL), OTA (2.0 ng/mL), DON (6.0 μg/mL), and ZEA (2.0 ng/mL), testing the effects of biosorbent dose (0.5-2 mg/mL), agitation (0, 50, 100 rpm), and temperature (12.5, 15, 25 °C). The highest adsorption efficiency was observed at 15 °C and 50 rpm, with removal of up to 45 % for DON and 20 % for AFB₁, OTA, and ZEA after 24 h. Contact time proved critical, with adsorption equilibrium reached at approximately 1440 min. DON exhibited the highest adsorption capacity (4.14 μg/g), followed by ZEA (1.95 μg/g), AFB₁ (1.52 ng/g), and OTA (1.34 ng/g), suggesting an affinity order of DON > ZEA > AFB₁ > OTA. Kinetic modeling showed the pseudo-first-order model best fit the data (R² > 0.95; EMR < 1.1 %). Adsorption is related to the physicochemical properties of the toxins, such as polarity, molecular size, and interactions with β-D-glucans and α-D-mannans in the cell wall. The treatment did not alter the physicochemical parameters of the wort, demonstrating its potential for incorporation into industrial-scale beer production processes without compromising product quality. Future research should evaluate its application in naturally contaminated worts, optimize process scaling, and investigate its impact on complete fermentation and sensory characteristics of the beer.