The manufacturing facility, in accordance with Enifer, could have the manufacturing capability of 3m kilograms every year, roughly the equal in protein of 30,000 cows. Nevertheless, it should, the corporate suggests, emit 20 occasions fewer carbon dioxide emissions. It’s anticipated to be accomplished by the top of 2025, costing round €30m to construct, and can begin manufacturing in 2026.
The funding got here from the European Union’s NextGenerationEU and was authorised by Enterprise Finland. It was allotted for ‘recycling and reuse investments’ and can allow Enifer to construct its manufacturing facility. Utilizing industrial by-products and waste streams, the manufacturing facility aligns with the EU’s goals to create a round financial system.
A brand new mycoprotein product
The manufacturing facility will probably be used to provide the corporate’s new product, a protein and fibre-rich mycoprotein-based powder with ‘impartial’ style and color. It plans to file for regulatory approval for this ingredient within the first half of this yr.
“In comparison with commercially accessible mycoproteins resembling Quorn, (whose) moist and fibrous mycoprotein product is usually utilized in meat analogues, our meals grade PEKILO is a dry powdery ingredient, offered for B2B and utilized in an analogous method as plant protein concentrates and isolates as an ingredient in varied meals purposes,” Joosu Kuivanen, Enifer’s co-founder and COO, advised FoodNavigator.
“It’s impartial in style and color whereas containing an ample proportion of every of the 9 important amino acids. It additionally comprises about 30-35% fibre, of which about half is fungal beta-glucan. Past the meat analogues . . . it may be utilized in pasta, bread, candy baking and dairy options.”
Dry, powdery mycoproteins are, Kuivanen careworn, fairly novel within the European meals panorama. “In Europe, The Protein Brewery develops considerably comparable ingredient(s) for meals purposes. Nevertheless, they’ve their very own course of and fungal pressure belonging to completely different species. So, it’s a bit like beef and pork in animal proteins.”
He envisions that “dry mycoprotein elements will turn out to be common meals elements just like soy immediately.”
The PEKILO course of
Enifer makes use of PEKILO fermentation to provide its mycoprotein. The “PEKILO course of is a steady submerged fungal fermentation. It implies that the feedstock (i.e. business by-product) is constantly fed right into a bioreactor (stirred tank reactor) during which PEKILO fungus grows by consuming the carbon sources of a by-product,” Kuivanen advised us.
It’s a steady bioprocess, that means that the grown PEKILO mycelial biomass is constantly harvested utilizing vitality efficient mechanical solid-liquid separation in, in accordance with Kuivanen, a course of that ‘resembles the straining of recent cheese.’ Afterwards, it’s damaged down and dried into mycoprotein powder.
The PEKILO method has a protracted historical past, stretching again to the Nineteen Seventies when it was developed by Finnish forest engineers as the primary business mycoprotein manufacturing course of. In its unique kind, the method used forest business by-products to create feed protein. Now, Enifer has up to date the method to go well with its personal wants.
“Within the unique PEKILO vegetation, operated in Finland between 1975 and 1991, spent sulfite liquor, a liquid aspect stream from sulfite pulp mills, was used as feedstock for the PEKILO course of. Nevertheless, only a few such pulp mills are nonetheless in operation. Due to this fact, we have now additional developed and optimized the PEKILO course of to make use of a number of completely different by-products, not solely from the forest business. Mainly, any by-product that’s liquid (no stable materials) and comprises a minimum of 2% carbon sources resembling residual sugars, glycerol and/or natural acids that PEKILO fungus can eat may work.
“For the meals grade PEKILO mycoprotein manufacturing we have now optimized the method for liquid by-products from the meals business. For instance, we will use lactose-containing permeates accessible as dairy business by-products. Mainly, all types of liquid meals business by-products may work.”
PEKILO fermentation is, in accordance with Kuivanen, very completely different from the methods utilized by mycoprotein giants resembling Quorn. “In Quorn and plenty of different mycoprotein fermentations the filamentous construction of the fungus, usually Fusarium venenatum, is harnessed to create the fibrous construction of the ultimate product that’s usually a moist mycoprotein to be delivered in a chilly chain. Within the PEKILO course of, the filamentous construction of our proprietary pressure, belonging to the fungus Paecilomyces variotii, is harnessed in extraordinarily environment friendly steady harvesting of the mycelial biomass from the method which is then damaged down and dried into dry powdery mycoprotein ingredient that doesn’t want the chilly chain.
“As well as, our PEKILO fungus is thermophilic, that means the method is run at increased temperature (37°C) in comparison with essentially the most different mycoproteins. This implies much less vitality is required for cooling the method.”
Fairly than utilizing pure sugars as feedstock, resembling in ‘typical’ mycoprotein processes, PEKILO’s fungus has, in accordance with Kuivanen, ‘very versatile capability’ to make use of completely different carbon sources. Moreover, very dilute by-products can be utilized as feedstock.
“Which means we will use very low worth by-products that are tough to valorise in different methods. As a substitute of optimizing the construction of the top product, the PEKILO course of was designed to optimize the effectivity of the manufacturing and dietary worth by way of digestibility and amino acid content material as a result of historic utilization as land animal feed ingredient. This additionally implies that the manufacturing prices of PEKILO are comparatively low.”
Reducing water and land use
Due to the variety of side-streams that can be utilized as feedstock, Enifer’s water and land use are ‘considerably’ decrease than that of animal protein manufacturing. Their very own land use is minimal, and many of the land use related to the manufacturing course of comes second-hand from the aspect streams.
“A number of the by-products, like permeates or vinasse, that can be utilized as feedstock in PEKILO course of are literally usually used as animal feed, during which case they’re first concentrated i.e. water evaporated, after which they’re fed to animals which can be consuming giant quantities of water of their lifespan. In our case, we use the by-product as liquid in our course of and a part of the water is even recycled,” Kuivanen advised us.
Land use is decrease just because the plant’s space will probably be a lot smaller than the equal space of agricultural land wanted to provide the identical quantity of protein in animal flesh.
