LSIWC Researcher Matīss Pāls Receives Best Presentation Award at BIOEAST Bioeconomy Event

Matīss Pāls, a researcher at the Lignin Chemistry Laboratory of the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry (LSIWC), has received the “Excellence in Storytelling Award” for best presentation at the BIOEAST Baltic bioeconomy innovation event “Powering the Baltic Bioeconomy”, which brought together bioeconomy innovators from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

During the event, teams presented solutions in the fields of circular bioeconomy and sustainable biomaterials, receiving feedback from investors, business experts, and representatives of the scientific community. Seven ideas were selected for the final round, including Matīss Pāls’ research on converting spent coffee grounds into high value-added products.

The idea presented by Matīss Pāls proposes a biorefinery approach in which spent coffee grounds are used to obtain bioactive compounds for food and cosmetic applications, as well as for the production of other sustainable products. The research applies environmentally friendly extraction technologies and green solvents such as water, ethanol, and glycerol.

The aim of the research is to reduce the amount of biological waste while creating new opportunities in the bioeconomy sector. Globally, spent coffee grounds generate millions of tonnes of waste each year, most of which ends up in landfills, where decomposition processes contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

“Spent coffee grounds are often perceived as waste, although they still contain many valuable compounds that can be used in the development of new products,” emphasises researcher Matīss Pāls.

The event was organised by the BIOEAST Initiative and the European Union Horizon project BOOST4BIOEAST in cooperation with the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the Estonian BIOEAST Hub.

Photo: Kristel Kilk, Lili Veesaar/Estonian University of Life Sciences