August 6, 2020

UK consortium pioneers carbon recycling for animal feed

A UK consortium project, REACT-FIRST, led by 10 industry and academic partners, is pioneering a process that uses microbes to convert carbon dioxide from industrial emissions into high-value proteins for animal feed, particularly for poultry and aquaculture, Biomass Magazine reported.

REACT-FIRST launches with financial support from the government in the form of £3 million (~US$3.94 million; £1 = US$1.31) funding from Innovate U.K. and will contribute to meeting the U.K.'s Net Zero climate change commitment as well as to the circular economy.

The members of the REACT-FIRST consortium are:Deep Branch; Drax; BioMar; AB Agri; Sainsbury's; Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC); Synthetic Biology Research Centre, University of Nottingham (SBRC Nottingham); The Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling; Nottingham Trent University, School of Animal Rural and Environmental Sciences; Innogen, University of Edinburgh.

Commenting on the significance of the REACT-FIRST project, Peter Rowe, CEO of Deep Branch, explains, "Currently, most animal feed protein sources are imported from overseas, making the UK dependent on complicated and fragile supply chains. REACT-FIRST has been created to focus solely on addressing this problem.

Projects like REACT-FIRST are key to help the industry move towards achieving net-zero emissions. Its solution uses the technology developed by Deep Branch, but whilst this has huge transformative potential, commercialisation is not possible without cooperation with key stakeholders across the value chain. REACT-FIRST addresses this, with its consortium of industrial and academic organisations, and even though relationships within these verticals are well established, the project represents the first time that the resources and expertise of all parties have been unified towards a single goal."

Deep Branch, who pioneered the manufacturing process, is also leading the project.

The end product is a new type of single-cell protein (SCP), called Proton by Deep Branch. "This is used in fish and poultry feed and represents a new way of generating more sustainable animal feeds," says Rowe.

"REACT-FIRST will obtain critical data about cost, digestibility, nutritional quality and carbon footprint of Proton. Each of the project's partners is playing an active role in the development of the process and generation of this critical data, harnessing their involvement and shared knowledge in the field of carbon emissions, the production supply chain, and ground-breaking biotechnology and technology, to create sustainable protein feed sources that will contribute to reducing the environmental impact of meat production systems."

Project partner BioMar is involved in production and testing of trial feeds, focusing on sustainability, performance, digestibility and other parameters essential for fish health and growth.

Paddy Campbell, VP salmon at BioMar Group, explains, "Aquaculture is expected to double production by 2050 however to achieve this we need feeds with minimal environmental impact. The REACT-FIRST project is the first step towards the commercial development of a new potentially game-changing protein source, Proton; using new technology to capture waste CO2 and creating high-value sustainable protein suitable for the aquaculture industry."

"At BioMar we are constantly seeking innovative raw materials that don't compete with human food production and nutrients from by-products that minimise waste. We are excited to be part of this project to see how Proton will perform in aquaculture feed," adds Campbell.

AB Agri is contributing to REACT-FIRST its insights into animal feed markets, customer needs and end consumer demands.

Valerie Schuster, strategy director at AB Agri, says, "The world around us is changing. In the past, there has been a growing gap between the animal feed industry and end consumers, who nowadays want to know more about the meat and fish they are eating, where they come from and whether the animals they consume have been raised responsibly. In turn, the industry is obliged to share more information about the feed animals consume, where it comes from, and how we do more with less to meet the needs of a growing population, while preserving the planet.

REACT-FIRST provides a way of doing exactly this: by growing single-cell protein using CO2 emissions from industry, it creates a new, scalable and circular protein, which is the opportunity to help feed manufacturers and farmers and improve animal nutrition and wellbeing via a high-quality ingredient that is consistent and can easily be traced back to its origins."

Meanwhile, Nottingham Trent University's Poultry Research Unit is tasked with investigating and benchmarking the nutritional quality of Proton as a poultry feed ingredient, advising on the processes to optimally prepare it for inclusion in the poultry feed, and conducting poultry nutrition trials.