Project description
From lab to farm: An unconventional way to produce protein for the animal feed industry
Serious sustainability issues such as overfishing and deforestation restrict the availability of protein from conventional sources and consequently increase the demand for alternative solutions. Deep Branch has developed a sustainable and highly scalable gas fermentation technology that transforms CO2 from industrial emissions into a single cell protein, Proton™ for animal nutrition. The cost-competitive Proton™ can potentially replace soy and fishmeal and be adapted to the precise needs of animal farms. After the quality validation of the product, Deep Branch will establish a full-scale production facility in cooperation with a carbon-intensive industry. The EU-funded Proton project intends to support production at scale. Moreover, it will validate the nutritional viability of the product, complete the design for the market launch and ensure the necessary IP protection.
Objective
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.
Fields of science
- 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
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
SE19 3HF London
United Kingdom
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.