BioPro - Low emission protein production from anaerobic digestion gases

Up to 30% of the EU's demand for crude protein is fulfilled by imported soybean meal, which is linked to deforestation in Brazil. The UK also heavily relies on soybean, oilseed and fish meal imports, and recent political and economic turmoil has negatively impacted the animal feed supply. Insect farming and fish meal production from CO2 as emerging alternatives can not fulfil the growing demand for sustainable, ethically produced proteins in animal feed and while plant-based proteins are an option, they require significant land and water resources and are often considered more suitable for human consumption.

In the current collaborative project, the team of researchers from Novatica Technologies Ltd and the University of Chester aims to develop a technology to convert **biomethane** and **biogas** from anaerobic digestion into single-cell protein SCP using methanotrophic bacteria to meet the growing need for sustainable animal protein. The use of biomethane and biogas as feedstock to produce animal feed proteins can reduce waste, create value, contribute to a circular economy, and provide a low-cost and sustainable alternative to traditional protein sources. By turning greenhouse C1 gases, produced via anaerobic digestion of various organic wastes, into high-value products we will create a novel close-loop low emission food and feed production system.

The proposed value chain of biomethane/biogas-to-animal feed proteins will help to reduce waste disposal and methane emissions from landfills, positively affect the UK's network of anaerobic digestors, increase revenues from waste and greenhouse gases utilisation, reduce the reliance on energy-intensive hydrogen-based processes and high-risk imports in food and feed, and bring the UK to the forefront of innovative sustainable biotechnologies for proteins production.