University of Alberta researchers are working with an Alberta startup to get an edible coal-derived protein into the marketplace, replacing less eco-friendly ingredients in animal feed.
The innovative research, powered in part by a US$1.7-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is being conducted by David Bressler and Ruurd Zijlstra in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences.
Working with Cv̄ictus, a company that brought the project to the U of A for modernization, Bressler’s Biorefining Conversions and Fermentation Laboratory has improved the technology needed to make single cell protein (SCP).
Their collaboration resurrects technology first developed and approved for use 40 years ago in Europe, that is now being tested for potential use in Canada.
SCP is a nutrient-rich, low-cost substitute for fish meal and soybean meal, the standard protein sources used in animal feed, and could be a “game changer” in several ways, says Bressler, a bioresource scientist.
“Single cell protein technology has many benefits that could redefine the face of agriculture in Canada,” he says.
“It’s an opportunity to produce a much more sustainable ingredient that is less expensive to make, has a much smaller carbon footprint and is scalable to production.”
Using a patented process, Cv̄ictus is focused on extracting hydrogen from deep coal seams without mining, converting it to produce clean methanol and then from there, making SCP for use in livestock feed. The leftover carbon is then captured and sequestered back underground.
The technology leverages Alberta’s major industries of energy and agriculture, says Brett Wilcox, CEO of Cv̄ictus.
“Alberta has massive energy resources, so by turning those hydrocarbon resources into protein, the potential is there to supply most of the animal feed market in Canada and the world.”
The SCP is derived from methanol drawn from hydrogen and carbon in the coal. Bacteria are grown on the methanol that are then harvested, dried and processed into livestock feed.
Besides being more nutrient-rich, SCP is better for the environment than the intensive operations needed to produce protein sources like soybean meal, Wilcox notes.
“The world has lost about half of its forest cover, almost all for agriculture, with 77 per cent of that land being used to grow animal feed and forage, so using SCP reduces that footprint, with massive environmental benefits,” he says. “The only way to remove a high amount of CO2 from the atmosphere relatively quickly and at a large scale is mass reforestation.”