Technology boosts hop production in Brazil and paves the way for new bioproducts

Project developed in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, allows for the highly efficient extraction of aromatic and bioactive compounds, reducing logistics costs and increasing beer quality.

By Maria Fernanda Ziegler  |  Agência FAPESP – Despite being the third-largest producer and consumer of beer worldwide, Brazil depends almost entirely on hop imports. Less than 1% of the ingredient responsible for the bitterness, aroma, and flavor of beer is grown locally. However, a new project involving Brazilian scientists and producers in the Vale do Ribeira region of the state of São Paulo seeks to change this scenario. The project aims to make domestic hop production more efficient and viable while boosting the development of new bioproducts.

The project was born within the Center for Research on Biodiversity Dynamics and Climate Change (CBioClima), one of the Research, Innovation, and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) supported by FAPESP and based at São Paulo State University (UNESP). The project is investing in supercritical extraction with carbon dioxide (CO₂), a technology that is already well-established in countries such as Germany and the United States. This method efficiently extracts aromatic and bioactive compounds from hops, reducing logistics costs and improving beer quality.

“Brazilian hops are normally sold in pellets [dehydrated and pressed flowers] to breweries. However, with this technology, hops can be marketed in oil form, which, in addition to logistical gains, yields beer production results that are far superior to conventional methods,” explains Levi Pompermayer Machado, a professor at UNESP and one of the researchers involved in the project.

In addition to CBioClima, the project includes the National Institute of Science and Technology in Nanotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture (INCT NanoAgro), the Aquário de Ideias incubator, with startups from Vale do Ribeira, as well as Bioativos Naturais and Kalamazoo – two companies supported by FAPESP’s Innovative Research in Small Businesses Program (PIPE). The producers are part of the SP Produz 2025 program, run by the São Paulo state government, which offers strategic support to strengthen local production chains.

In the study published in the journal Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, the researchers compared the extraction of hops at Atlântica Hops in the municipality of Juquiá in Vale do Ribeira using conventional and supercritical CO₂ methods. While traditional extraction, which uses organic solvents or a technique known as steam stripping, yields about 15% extract with 9% α-acids (the compounds responsible for the bitterness of beer), the CO₂ method achieves up to 72% α-acids. Additionally, the process results in a lower volume, better preservation, and an increase of up to 20% in beer productivity.

“Each hop has a unique flavor, which is defined by what we call terroir, and that’s what the industry is looking for. In the study, we also conducted analyses of the sensory profile of the hop extract in pellets and the extract we produced. There was a slight change in flavor, but the sensory signature of the product remained more or less the same. Therefore, with all this improvement in efficiency and quality, the characteristics of the terroir are almost entirely maintained,” he says.

Machado points out that the technology tested in Vale do Ribeira stands out for adhering to the principles of green chemistry. Traditional methods use large amounts of water or petroleum-based solvents to separate essential oils from hops.

Supercritical extraction, on the other hand, uses carbon dioxide under high-pressure, high-temperature conditions where it exists in a state between liquid and gas (the supercritical state). In this state, CO₂ acts as a natural solvent, penetrating deeply into the raw material and extracting its compounds with high efficiency.

“In addition, the CO₂ used in supercritical technology is recaptured at the end of the process, which avoids atmospheric emissions and eliminates chemical residues in the extract. This makes the method more efficient and environmentally responsible,” says Machado.

The researcher states that the main objective of the project is to provide producers with cultivation options that have a smaller environmental footprint and greater added value (as is the case with hops), rather than expanding agricultural frontiers with low-value commodities such as soybeans and sugarcane.

“We’re talking about producing more in a much smaller cultivated area, with a crop that responds well to climate change and offers multiple market possibilities,” the researcher points out.

Circular economy

Another advantage of this technology is that the resulting extracts can be used not only in the brewing industry but also in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors. In addition to the extracts, the researchers analyzed the waste left over after extraction (spent hops).

Johana Marcela Concha Obando, a postdoctoral fellow at INCT NanoAgro at UNESP who is involved in the project, explains that hop waste still contains bioactive compounds with high antioxidant potential, such as phenolics and flavonoids. “Since the technique doesn’t use reagents, this waste isn’t lost in the process and can be used for other purposes,” she explains.

The study’s biochemical analysis revealed that, even after removing the main active ingredients, the residual biomass retains properties that can be used in new products. “With the extract, we’re no longer serving just the brewing niche, but reaching five, six, or even ten different sectors,” Machado celebrates.

The article “Chemical and biotechnological characterization of supercritical CO₂ extracts and residual Humulus lupulus biomass from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest” can be read at link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13399-025-06903-z.