Descripción del proyecto
Del laboratorio a la granja: una forma poco convencional de producir proteínas para la industria de piensos para animales
Problemas graves de sostenibilidad, como la sobrepesca y la deforestación, menoscaban la disponibilidad de proteínas de fuentes convencionales y, en consecuencia, aumentan la demanda de soluciones alternativas. Deep Branch ha desarrollado una tecnología de fermentación de gas sostenible y altamente modulable que transforma el CO2 de emisiones industriales en Proton™, una proteína unicelular para la nutrición animal. Proton™ tiene unos costes competitivos y podría reemplazar a la soja y la harina de pescado y adaptarse a las necesidades concretas de las explotaciones agropecuarias. Tras la validación de la calidad del producto, Deep Branch construirá una instalación de producción a gran escala en cooperación con una industria con altas emisiones de carbono. El proyecto Proton, financiado con fondos europeos, se propone respaldar la producción a gran escala. Es más, validará la viabilidad nutricional del producto, completará el diseño para su comercialización y garantizará la protección de la propiedad intelectual necesaria.
Objetivo
Animal feed producers are looking for alternative proteins because protein from conventional sources such as soy production and fishmeal face big sustainability issues, reflected in overfishing and deforestation. Deep Branch has developed a sustainable, highly scalable gas fermentation technology, that takes large volumes of CO2 from industrial emissions and transforms them into Proton™, a Single Cell Protein (SCP) optimised for animal nutrition. Proton™ has the potential for significant and, in the long-term, complete replacement of soy and fishmeal. Proton™ can be tailored to meet the precise requirements of animal feed companies and produced at scale in a sustainable and cost-competitive manner. Deep Branch has successfully tested the technology in a containerised, mobile unit at an industrial site and demonstrated nutritional viability. The company's initial focus will be on the €44bn aquaculture feed markets, with the €100bn+ monogastric market to follow. Within five years, Deep Branch aims to have full commercial-scale technology co-located with a CO2 emitting industrial partner, producing >50,000 tonnes of SCP per year. Feed producers have expressed their interest in purchasing this product once available in commercial volume; the company has already started co-developing feed recipes based on Proton™ and has LOIs and trial partner agreements from two major feed producers. At the other end of the value chain, the technology will offer large carbon emitters a new way to valorise their CO2. Once off-take has been secured and the production process and product quality validated, Deep Branch will build the first full-scale production facility, legally structured in a joint venture with a carbon-intensive industrial company. The objectives of the project are to build a Pilot Plant capable of producing >200 kg Proton™ per month, to fully validate the nutritional viability of Proton™, to complete the design for a demo plant and to secure necessary IP protection.
Ámbito científico
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesfisheries
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybioprocessing technologiesfermentation
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandryanimal feed
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoriaConvocatoria de subcontratación
H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020-4
Régimen de financiación
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinador
SE19 3HF London
Reino Unido
Organización definida por ella misma como pequeña y mediana empresa (pyme) en el momento de la firma del acuerdo de subvención.