PILOT-MP - Pilot scale process development for microbial proteins

Calidris Bio aims to bring a technology to the market to produce microbial protein for feed and food purposes. Calidris Bio is developing a production process consisting of fermentation and conditioning of the microbial biomass. The fermentation process was optimised at lab-scale (2L fed-batch and continuous fermentation) with a productivity of 10g/L/h. The next step is to scale-up the process to pilot scale. A concomitant life cycle analysis will be performed to pinpoint hotspots thus improving the environmental footprint of the process. The novelty of the process consists of steering the biomass composition and metabolic state by adjusting substrate composition and feeding rate; working in a continuous process mode at large scale (>100L); steering the biomass composition when running in continuous mode.