The technical and scientific activities performed in the first Reporting Period have focussed on three main activities; 1. The optimalisation of our most advanced fermentation process based on an, abundantly available, sidestream from the dairy industry, 2. The selection of downstream-processing technologies (concentration, drying, extraction) for cost-effective and efficient extraction of the oil from the yeast biomass, and 3. Upscaling the fermentation and downstream-processing to industrial scale while maintaining oil productivity and oil quality supporting a good business case.
1. Fermentation optimalisation. Milk quality and composition can vary from day-to-day based on the production season, the feed offered to the cows, the storage time, similarly affecting sugar, nutrient, mineral and free-nitrogen content in sidestreams from dairy processes. By carefully investigating the role of different (dairy) components on the oil productivity and quality of our fermentation process, we mitigated any variability by strategic (small) additions to our feedstock. This has resulted in a robust and scalable production process for our semi-solid fat based on our selected sidestream.
2. Development of down-stream processing (DSP). DSP processes perform differently at industrial scale compared to lab scale. Hence, it was impossible to select an optimal combination of DSP-approaches during laboratory development. Only now, with our first attempts at larger scale, we have been able to develop sufficient yeast biomass (containing oil) to test and compare performance and efficiency of various pieces of equipment for concentrating, drying and extraction of the yeast oil. A base process is now in place, providing examplary oil samples for customers and regulatory submissions.
3. Upscaling. With our first robust fermentation process based on a sidestream from the food industry developed at our own 400L facility, we moved to external facilities for demonstrating our technology at more relevant volumes. After successful runs at 5,000L and 120,000L, some process steps still need optimization, so we plan a repeat run in Q2 2025.
