In 22 seconds, "one breath" becomes protein

In 22 seconds, carbon monoxide in the exhaust gas of iron and steel enterprises can be anaerobic fermented to produce ethanol and Clostridium ethanolic protein

For a time, the response was strong, and the Chinese people were excited

New breakthrough in protein synthesis

Carbon monoxide, a recognized harmful gas

As early as 1994, scientists added carbon monoxide to Clostridium acetic acid for liquid fermentation to prepare Clostridium ethanolic protein, which has become one of the common methods of biological feed materials

Xue Min, chief scientist of the feed processing innovation team of the Feed Institute of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, introduced that as early as the 1990s, foreign countries began to study the use of Clostridium ethanolic bacteria and other gas-eating bacteria to produce small-molecule alcohol products with one-carbon gas as a carbon source.

Chinese scientists have greatly shortened the time required for this process

According to reports, the new feed protein product developed by Shougang Langze has obtained the new product certificate issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in August 2021, which is also the first new product certificate for feed raw materials in China

Chao Wei, senior vice president of Shougang Longze, said that the project uses carbon monoxide in the exhaust gas of the steel plant as the carbon source and ammonia water as the nitrogen source.

In addition, because Clostridium ethanolicum can be completely inactivated by air exposure, the bacterial cells are centrifuged, concentrated and spray-dried to obtain a protein product of Clostridium ethanolicum, and the production cost is much lower than that of single-cell protein products such as yeast and microalgae

Solving the protein shortage problem

There are two essential things in animal feed: corn and soybean meal

Li Aike, chief researcher of the Scientific Research Institute of the State Administration of Grain and Material Reserves, said that in recent years, China's high-quality feed protein raw materials have been extremely scarce and had to be imported in large quantities, and the external dependence has remained above 70% for a long time

It is understood that the ethanolic Clostridium protein not only has excellent nutritional value and processing characteristics, but also its environmental protection value is also very eye-catching

Dai Xiaofeng, director of the Feed Institute of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, pointed out that the industrialized production of one-step biosynthesis of feed protein will help our country get rid of the "soybean import dependence syndrome" and achieve "carbon neutrality"

Li Aike believes that the biggest highlight of this achievement is "solving the problem of protein shortage with microbial protein production"

Open up the road to industrialization

On Caofeidian, Hebei, a small island "grown" from land reclamation, there are towering blast furnaces of Shougang Jingtang Iron and Steel Co.

In 2012, Shougang Langze invested more than 60 million yuan to build a full-process iron and steel industry tail gas bio-fermentation pilot demonstration unit in the courtyard of Shougang Jingtang Company in Caofeidian (with an annual output of 300 tons of ethanol)

Song Qingkun, general manager of Hebei Shoulang New Energy Technology Co.
, Ltd.
, introduced that the new technology has achieved independent innovation from zero to one and rapid replication from one to N, opening up a new way to produce high-quality feed protein from low-cost non-traditional animal and plant resources , the company plans to achieve at least 1 million tons of ethanol and 100,000 tons of feed protein production capacity in the near future, which will save 3 million tons of grain and 8 million mu of arable land each year, and can replace 2 million tons of fossil energy every year.
Above, reducing carbon emissions by more than 2.
5 million tons
.

(Comprehensive arrangement by Gao Na)

"China Food News" (04 edition on March 16, 2022)

(Editor-in-charge: Gao Na)