Turning Carbon Emissions Into Protein: Novonutrients Aquaculture Feed From Bacteria

Industrial carbon dioxide emissions could soon become fish\r\nfeed — turning waste into a cost-effective source of vital aquaculture\r\nnutrients while also preserving wild fish stocks and mitigating climate change.

NovoNutrients, which is pioneering a technology that uses\r\nmicroorganisms to convert carbon dioxide into protein for aquaculture feeds,\r\nrecently inked a contract with Chevron Technology Ventures to pilot its\r\ntechnology at an oil and gas facility. NovoNutrients is the first biotechnology\r\ncompany to join Chevron’s Catalyst Program, which is a conduit to\r\nmaturation for early-stage startups with emerging technologies that hold\r\npromise for the energy industry.

It's the first contract NovoNutrients, which rebranded in\r\n2017 to focus on aquafeeds and was formerly called Oakbio, has announced to put\r\nits nutrient production system in the field, according to CEO David Tze. The\r\ncompany hopes to usher in a remade food system in which high-quality nutrients\r\nand feeds are created in a way that recycles life’s building-blocks rather than\r\ndiscarding them.

"In the long run, we're talking about a new pillar of\r\nthe food system that can be decoupled from fossil fuels and from\r\nagriculture," Tze told SeafoodSource.

Many companies are seeking to create alternative aquafeeds\r\nfrom soy, insects, algae, and bacteria. But so far, markets have been generally\r\ncontent to rely on cheap fishmeal and oil from wild fisheries, even though\r\nrising global demand for farmed fish protein will increase the need for new\r\ntypes of feed, according to Michael Tlusty, an aquaculture expert and associate\r\nprofessor of sustainability and food solutions at the University of\r\nMassachusetts, Boston.

"It is important to develop fish-free feeds in case\r\nthere is a disruption in the supply of ingredients for feed,” Tlusty told\r\nSeafoodSource. “Creating ingredients based on waste streams and then upscaling\r\nthem to feed is a way to create more food for a growing human population."

Tlusty warned that alternative feeds should contain all the\r\nessential nutrients that are in fish meal and fish oil so that the industry can\r\nweather any disruptions in the supply of those marine proteins. 

"Fish meal and oil is undoubtedly a good feed source\r\nfor aquaculture, but if we are to create alternatives, we need to know that\r\nthey can function independently of fish meal and oil," he said. 

NovoNutrients' technology works through a process similar to\r\nphotosynthesis. The microorganisms growing use carbon dioxide as a fuel source,\r\nbut rather than getting the energy for the reaction from sunlight they rely on\r\nthe chemical energy in hydrogen to power the process. The hydrogen can come\r\nfrom a variety of sources, including industrial waste streams or electrolysis,\r\nwhich is the splitting of water into its constituent parts. Depending on how\r\nNovoNutrients obtains the hydrogen, the entire process of creating the\r\nnutrients might be able to capture more carbon dioxide than it emits, Tze said.

One preliminary study suggests that obtaining hydrogen from\r\nelectrolysis powered by clean energy could result in a negative carbon\r\nfootprint. Another preliminary study suggests that obtaining hydrogen through\r\ngasification — extracting synthetic gas from waste materials such as plastics\r\nor biomass — would also have a relatively benign carbon footprint.

A feeding trial at the U.S. Department of Fish and\r\nWildlife’s Bozeman Fish Technology Center in Montana showed that rainbow trout\r\nfed a diet with 40 percent NovoNutrients product had mortality levels\r\ncomparable to a control group fed a standard diet, Tze said. And though the\r\nfish that were fed NovoNutrients grew slower initially, they grew faster in the\r\nfinal two weeks.

NovoNutrients is still refining the consortium of microbes\r\nthat it uses to produce the nutrients. Hydrogen oxidizing bacteria form the\r\ncore, while secondary microorganisms include other bacteria, yeast, fungi, and\r\nalgae that rely on the metabolites and waste products of the primary producers.

Ultimately, NovoNutrients intends to offer low-cost protein\r\nwith a nutritional value comparable to normal fishmeal, with the possibility\r\nfor different configurations for different uses — from shrimp to sea bass to\r\nturkeys to human food products.

"In the future, we will be able to offer this\r\nconfigurability to make roughly ideal proteins for ideal uses," Tze said.\r\nThe exact uses will be determined by sources of raw materials and market\r\nreceptivity to the product.

In addition to bulk protein, NovoNutrients can make\r\nhigh-value additives that the company calls Novoceuticals. Both rely on the\r\nsame essential process of creating biomass. Aquaculture feed companies, which\r\npurchase a variety of compounds to add to their feeds, so far have expressed\r\ninterest in both products, Tze said.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

"What there's interest in is how soon something is\r\nready and how soon you can test or buy it," Tze said. "Because the\r\nNovoceuticals can be commercially produced at a smaller scale, I think everyone\r\nunderstands that's what we're likely to sell first."  

Source : Seafood Source