BioRefineries Blog

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Biomega has announced the expansion of its biorefining assets by investing in a greenfield site in Hirtshals (Denmark). The new biorefinery follows the company’s recent upgrade of its flagship site, strategically located on the west coast of Norway, near Bergen. Press release: “ Biomega Group invests in new biorefinery in Denmark to support growth in Human Health & Nutrition ”, 11/05/2021. Figure 1. Biomega invests in a new biorefinery in Denmark (taken from the press release) Biomega uses its continuous enzymatic hydrolysis process to transform fresh salmon parts into high value, food grade, hydrolysed salmon proteins and oils for the premium food and petfood, health and nutrition sectors. Biomega has four patents for its continuous biorefining process and has invested over 20 years in research and development in sustainable nutrition and biorefining. The investment is focused on expanding the production capacity and suppo...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. On the 6th of May, FARMŸNG project (BBI JU 2018) held the groundbreaking ceremony of Ÿnfarm, the world’s largest vertical insect farm. Press release: “ Groundbreaking ceremony of our Ÿnfarm plant ”, 07/05/2021. Related post: “ FARMYNG project – The first commercial insect biorefinery for alternative proteins production ”, 24/06/2019. Figure 1. FARMŸNG project held the groundbreaking ceremony of its insect biorefinery Ÿnfarm (taken from the press release). The French Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Julien Denormandie, and the Secretary of State for Digital Transition and Electronic Communications Cedric O attended the ceremony, together with the President of the Haut-de-France Region, Xavier Bertrand. The plant is located in Poulainville (near Amiens, France). The construction works started on March 2020 and Ÿnfarm will be the largest global fully-automated flagship industrial p...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Mycorena AB and Falkenbergsgruppen AB have announced a joint project to establish a facility for large-scale production of fungi-based protein. The factory is to be built by the co-owned company Mycorena Fastighets AB and will be operational during 2022. Press release: “ First-of-its-kind facility for mycoprotein production to be built in Falkenberg ”, 27/04/2021. Figure 1. Mycorena to build mycoprotein production plant in Falkenberg (taken from the press release) The factory’s purpose is to industrialize Mycorena’s manufacturing of Promyc, a unique fungi-based protein source sold to food producers all over the world. The Gothenburg-based company currently operates pilot-scale production and sales in its home city, but has now chosen to establish their first large-scale facility in Falkenberg. The establishment has been made possible by large efforts on research and development of Mycorena’s technology, which consists of a fermen...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. The three Danish cooperatives DLG , Danish Agro and DLF have joined forces to establish a green biorefinery for local production of grass protein with a environmental and climate-friendly profile. The goal is that grass protein in the long term can replace part of the soy that agriculture uses in animal feed today. Press releases: - “ Danish cooperatives join forces on green protein ”, 26/05/2020. - “ Grass protein could revolutionise the farming industry ”, 04/02/2021. Green biorefinery , Figure 1. Danish cooperatives join forces to produce proteins in a green biorefinery (taken from BioRefine Denmark website) The three agricultural companies have established a joint venture called BioRefine Denmark , which will run the green biorefinery, where protein from clover grass and alfalfa will be extracted for organic feed, and eventually also protein that can be included in human food. DLG owns 50% of BioRefine Denmark, while Danish Agro and ...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.  Arbiom (biotechnology company developing solutions to convert wood into protein for feed and food applications) has successfully achieved a critical milestone in its Demonstration Program by completing continuous, stable operation of its fermentation technology over a seven-day period without contamination or product quality issues.  Press release: “ Arbiom achieves milestone in scale-up of Wood-to-Food Technology ”, 7/10/2020.   Figure 1. Arbiom Wood-to-Food platform technology (taken from the company website)  Throughout the Demonstration Program, fermentation and downstream process stages ran smoothly and continuously, to successfully produce over a half-ton of SylPro (a nutritional, sustainable protein-rich ingredient for feed and food applications) which exceeded Arbiom’s initial target. To complete the continuous run, Arbiom worked with Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP), a partner in the SYLFEED Cons...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. White Dog Labs (WDL) has recently announced that the district court for Morrison county (MN, USA) has approved its bid to acquire the Central Minnesota Renewables (CMR) plant in Little Falls. WDL will use it to manufacture animal nutrition products. Press release: “ White Dog Labs announces an agreement to purchase the CMR plant in Little Falls, MN ”, 4/2/2020. Related posts: - “ Green Biologics starts the construction of its n-butanol and acetone biorefinery in Minnesota ”, 9/12/2015. - “ Green Biologics starts shipments of biobutanol and acetone from its Little Falls biorefinery ”, 19/12/2016. - “ Green Biologics shuts down its Minnesota biorefinery ”, 30/7/2019. Figure 1. White Dog Labs to purchase the former butanol biorefinery of Green Biologics in Minnesota GBL started the construction of its biobased n-butanol and acetone manufacturing facility in Little Falls on September 1st, 2015 . The existing site (a 20 mil...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. After 3 years of project development, the GreenProtein demonstration plant is ready and operative. This BBI JU project is aimed at producing high-added value, food-grade and fully functional proteins and other ingredients, out of vegetal residues (mainly, from sugar beet). Press release: “ GreenProtein General Assembly & DEMO Plant Part 2 ”, 30/10/2019. Figure 1. GreenProtein demo plant The project general assembly and the opening of the demo plant took place the 9th and 10th of October 2019. These were two significant events for the project and a big occasion to celebrate and share the progress. The host of the events was Royal Cosun , project coordinator. The main outcome of GreenProtein will be the transformation of 4,000 tons of agricultural residue yearly into a high-quality dried RuBisCO powder ready to enter into food industry production chains as an alternative of the widely extended egg white preparations or w...

Type of post: PROJECT PROFILE. Meeting the growing demand for proteins will be one of the challenges of the near future. The EU is suffering from a major deficit in vegetable proteins and is dependent on imports from third countries. There is an urgent need for technology breakthroughs to increase local protein production. And, this seems to be one of the priorities of the BBI JU. The two flagship projects of its 2018 call are focused on the protein issue. At the end of June, the Blog featured one of them, the FARMYNG project (fully-automated flagship industrial plant to produce premium proteins from insects). Now, it is the turn of the PLENITUDE project. The initiative addresses the protein challenge by integrating two established processes into a flagship, large-scale, first-of-its-kind, biorefinery producing bioethanol and sustainable food protein. The process takes a proportion of the sustainable cereal crops that feed the biorefinery to create a feedstock for the fermen...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. A new demo biorefinery has been inaugurated at Aarhus University Foulum (AU Foulum) on June 25 th as part of the Circular Bioeconomy Days 2019 (event which brings together important players from Denmark and abroad to debate the circular bioeconomy as a tool to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals). The new plant can process 10-20 tons/h of fresh wet green biomass. Press release: “ Nyt bioraffineringsanlæg på AU Foulum skal bidrage til grøn omstilling ”, 20/5/2019. Figure 1. New green biorefinery at AU Foulum (taken from the twitter account of Climate-KIC Nordic) Cultivation of perennial crops, such as grass and clover grass, has many benefits for the environment and climate. Trials at AU Foulum have shown that leaching of nitrogen to the aquatic environment is significantly reduced when perennial grass crops are grown. In Denmark, there are several areas where there is a particularly high risk of nitrogen loss. In these areas...

Type of post: PROJECT PROFILE. Beginning in 2019, a new EIP-Agri project focused on small-scale green biorefining will illuminate the way of the rural bioeconomy in Ireland. It is not the first time that the Blog features an initiative of this European Innovation Partnership (EIP), which is aimed at promoting the sustainable and productive agriculture providing an interface between agriculture, bioeconomy, science and other users. Let us know the highlights of this promising project. Key data Title Biorefinery Glas Activities - Demonstrate a small-scale mobile biorefinery on multiple farms in the South West of Ireland, supporting farmers in evaluating opportunities to diversify into the bioeconomy. - Ensure that each component of grass is used at its highest value, with the simultaneous generation of multiple products. - Promote farm-to-farm symbiosis and cooperation. - Facilitate several knowledge exchange activities, including t...

Type of post: NEWS. In May 2016, Unibio signed a license agreement with the intent to upscale and commercialize its methane to protein technology in Russia. That country was chosen as an ideal site because bacterial protein is historically known in the Russian market and there is access to an abundance of cheap natural gas. A little more than two years after the signature of the contract, the first plant is ready for testing and commissioning (see press release , 13/9/2018). During July, Unibio and its partner and licensee Protelux completed the construction of the plant. They expect to commission it by late 2018. The plant has a production capacity of approximately 6,000 tons per year and four huge 30 meters high U-Loop bio-reactors. The licensee has already reserved land for a future expansion to 100,000 tons per year. The U-Loop technology The U-Loop technology is based on a process occurring in nature. The concept underlying is simple: methane can be converted i...