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Aquaculture Magazine reports:
Salmon feed is one of the possibilities for its development
The pioneer in fermentation technology Aerbio has announced a groundbreaking achievement, their pilot line at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Limburg, Netherlands, is now fully operational. This will allow the company to step forward in the commercialization of Proton, an ultra-sustainable protein-rich ingredient, as it will define how to integrate it into the food chain for use in salmon and chicken feed.
“At Aerbio, we are relentless in our efforts to bring Proton to market,” said Kaspar Kristiansen, CEO of Aerbio. “This achievement showcases our visionary approach to creating a sustainable future. We are not just breaking the mold; we are redefining it.” Proton offers a scalable, sustainable alternative to traditional protein sources, requiring no arable land and no fossil fuels, with a carbon footprint up to 90% smaller than traditional protein sources.
Surpassed expectations
According to them, in a display of their commitment to innovation, their technical team has surpassed expectations, achieving conversion efficiencies of feedstock greater than anticipated. The cutting-edge pilot facility is now producing over 200 kilograms of Proton per month. “This high-quality, single-cell protein, derived from naturally occurring microbes, will drive product and application development, including collaborations with industry leaders such as aquafeed producer BioMar.”, they said.
With the pilot facility now live, further application development for Proton will continue at larger scale, with Aerbio working with partners to optimize recipes for a range of applications in animal nutrition and beyond. In addition to Biomar, they are collaborating with the Scottish Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), Drax, Sainsbury’s and others.
Rob Mansfield, CTO of Aerbio, assured: “Behind the scenes, an extraordinary amount of hard work and dedication has been invested into bringing this pilot online. We successfully navigated a number of significant challenges over the past couple of years, and it is a true testament to the team’s commitment that we have been able to deliver such an outstanding result.”
Recently officially launched
Aerbio is a newly formed company that comes as part of a buyout of United Kingdom headquartered Deep Branch Biotechnology, with the core management team of Kristiansen (CEO), Mansfield (CTO), Peter Rowe (CXO) and Chairperson Lars Topholm, retained to forge a new path for the business.
“At Aerbio, we don’t just follow the rules for fermentation, we rewrite them. With the acquisition of Deep Branch’s groundbreaking (R)evolve platform, we’re able to harness a technology to convert simple molecules into sustainable, high-value products and use it at the center of a new, bolder direction built in close collaboration with our shareholders and management team,” said Kristiansen.
As pioneers of aerobic gas fermentation, Aerbio are positioned at the forefront of a revolution in the field of industrial biotechnology where the traditional reliance on sugar as source of carbon and energy is addressed. The company’s primary focus for their technology that uses carbon dioxide and hydrogen in the same way most fermentation processes use sugar is to scale production of Proton, a protein-rich ingredient poised to revolutionize food and animal nutrition.
Describing the company’s commercialization strategy, Rowe explained: “Bringing Proton to market is our primary focus. It’s clear there is a pressing need for scalable, nutritious and sustainable protein sources for a range of applications, most notably human and animal nutrition. We already have promising results in the lab that show we can produce a range of other valuable products, and once we have built out the full scale-up pipeline to bring Proton to market, we’ll then begin to push through new products.”
“My personal focus is to continue to build the relationships and partnerships required across our value chain to allow us to have the biggest and fastest positive impact on the security and sustainability of our global food system,” he added.
About Brightlands Chemelot Campus, Mansfield said: “Scaling an aerobic gas fermentation process brings several key challenges that must be overcome, mainly at the intersection of process efficiency and process safety. At Aerbio we’re building upon strong foundations laid by Deep Branch in overcoming these challenges, and in addition will benefit hugely from being joined by a strong core of Deep Branch’s technical team. We’ll have some very exciting news coming from the pilot facility in the next few weeks, so watch this space!”.
