Grant: Alliance Grants

This proposal will support research and development focused on the optimization of a low-carbon fermentation process for the production of single cell protein. The research team has initiated a collaboration with Cvictus, an Alberta start-up company with activities focusing on the production of high volumes of high quality animal feed protein through the fermentation of methanol by methylotrophic bacteria. The company has established a permitted site east of Red Deer Alberta and has initiated commercial development and towards a low-cost, low-carbon intensity methanol production facility. The single cell protein is intended to offset conventional protein supply (such as soybean meal or fishmeal) from the market, providing a local, low-cost alternative that has significantly reduced carbon, land-use and environmental footprint. The approach, if successfully commercialized, has the potential to directly reduce global deforestation, as agriculture is the main driver of forest clearing and 80% of all agricultural land is used for animal feed and forage. The company has acquired the final commercial strains of ICI, the original single cell protein industry leader in the 70's and 80's that was utilized to make the commercial product Pruteen in Europe. The industry partner has retained a group of global advisory consultants that were senior leaders and engineers within ICI overseeing the former process. The focus of this project is to modernize the fermentation and downstream unit operation approaches utilizing 21st century fermentation technology empowered by advanced controls and sensor capabilities. As part of the project, the team will look at overcoming two main bottlenecks with the original commercial process including high heat generation and oxygen demand through the development and refinement of a novel sequential continuous fermentation process. Key outcomes of this scope of work are anticipated to include an optimized high productivity continuous fermentation approach at the liter scale and active HQP training in an environment where they are working with the industrial partner directly on a weekly basis to design and implement process improvements with CVictus as they concurrently work to scale the technology.