State Grant Backs Wentworth Project to Turn Brewery Waste into Plant-Based Protein
The Wentworth grant will be put toward a project led by Assistant Professor Salil Desai to reduce waste at breweries
Wentworth Institute of Technology has been awarded $99,906.54 from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for a project that aims to turn brewers spent grain and distillers spent grain into high-quality plant-based protein, the Healey-Driscoll Administration announced.
The project is led by Salil Desai, assistant professor of biological engineering in Wentworth's Douglas D. Schumann School of Engineering, in partnership with area breweries. Spent grain is the leftover material from the brewing and distilling process, and it is produced in large volumes.
The award is part of $1.1 million in funding distributed to 13 businesses and organizations across Massachusetts through MassDEP's Waste Reduction Innovation Grant (WRIG) program. The grants support new technologies to help manage big and bulky waste materials, improve waste reduction efficiency, and expand the recycling market statewide.
Wentworth was the only college or university named among this year's recipients, which include companies based in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Worcester, Woburn, Hanover, and New Bedford. Eight recipients received $100,000 and four received $50,000.
"Massachusetts businesses and organizations are finding new ways to reduce waste and reuse materials," said Governor Maura Healey in a statement. "These grants will help them test and grow their ideas, create economic opportunity and keep more waste out of our landfills."
Launched in the spring of 2025, WRIG supports pilot-scale projects with strong commercialization potential, along with larger infrastructure investments intended to create or expand supply chains and drive large-scale waste diversion.
"Some of the toughest materials to manage are also where we have the biggest opportunities to rethink what we throw away," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. "These grants will help businesses and organizations test practical ideas to reuse bulky materials, recycle more efficiently and turn items that might otherwise become waste into something useful again."
MassDEP Commissioner Bonnie Heiple said the awards are meant to pair economic growth with measurable results.
"Investing in innovative technologies, processes and systems is critical to making our recycling and reuse initiatives more efficient and effective," Heiple said. "These grants spur economic growth while delivering real, measurable reductions in the amount of waste sent to landfills. With Massachusetts facing severely limited landfill capacity, supporting bold and modern solutions is more important than ever before."
Summary information on all awarded projects is available on the MassDEP Waste Reduction Innovation Grant Program webpage.