Carbon Capture by Hydrogen-Oxidizing Bacteria for Protein Creation for Use in Aqua Feeds

This project will advance and bring to the market a game-changing solution to address key economic, social and environmental challenges associated with the increasing demand for protein sources to provide enough fish feed which is necessary to face the severe hurdles posed by the growth of global population. The project focuses on the industrial-scale production of knallgas bacteria and the use of such a biomass as a protein source primarily in aquatic diets. An life cycle assessment study has been conducted to assess the environmental impact of an innovative salmon feed produced with hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (HOB) in Norway and to compare it to conventional grower salmon feed. It has been found that the diet containing HOB ingredient had the lowest environmental impact for the most important impact categories, such as climate change, fine particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, land use and fossil resource scarcity. The Research Council of Norway has supported the Phase I of this project in which the optimal nutritional composition of this product for salmon was confirmed. Good protein digestibility of the HOB biomass and no adverse effect on feed intake was achieved for the levels in the diet which prove to be sufficient to upscale the production to the full commercial scale.

Many of the key requirements for successful commercialization of Kiverdi SCP are already in place. The market demand for the product have been well characterized by Nutreco, and the production capacity will be taken up by Nutreco for both internal use and sale to other companies.

This research project is the result of an agreement between Nutreco and Kiverdi for the application of Kiverdi’s technology in the field of proteins for aquaculture. Skretting is a subsidiary of Nutreco in Norway and is in the lead of the Nutreco’s production of products for application in the field of Aquaculture. The ultimate goal of the collaboration is the global commercialization of an innovative microbial protein product for application in aquaculture feed applications. Nutreco/Skretting and Kiverdi also are planning to produce protein ingredients for use by other national and international feed producers. This project focuses on the industrial-scale production of hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (HOB) and the use of such a biomass as a protein source primarily in aquatic diets. To achieve this, research is needed in the areas of chemical, techno-functional, nutritional and bio-functional characteristics of the HOB protein. In addition, research on the technical solutions for the upscale of the biotechnological process is needed. The HOB protein is projected to have a favorable sustainability profile based on: - A projected 10,000 times less land used compared to agricultural protein sources. - Up to 2,000 times less water than traditional agricultural resources. - Use of sustainable energy (e.g. hydro, wind and solar power) for the cost-effective production of hydrogen and oxygen and for running the process - Local or nearby production of the HOB protein for the aquaculture feed production, thus avoidance of higher and environmentally unfriendly transport from far away sources such as Brazil. The aim of this research is to show that HOB protein is a suitable ingredient for aquaculture feeds. Fish performance and health results are anticipated to show that this product has sufficient value to warrant commercial production.