Chemical Engineering April 2023 - 12

Newsfront
The Protein Shift
Goals to sustainably feed a growing population with limited land resources are driving massive
efforts to develop new food sources
T
oday, it is common to see
plant-based " meat " products
on the shelves of grocery
stores. Although soy-based
meat products have been available
for decades, the number and variety
of alternative protein sources
are rapidly growing. Not only are
traditional food companies involved
in this quest for alternative proteins,
but also university and research institutes
around the world are working
in this field, with new startup spinoff
companies regularly emerging. This
also means new business for equipment
suppliers, who are getting involved
with process development
and scaleup of new protein sources.
According to a database maintained
by the Good Foods Institute
(GFI; Washington, D.C.; www.gfi.
org), there are 1,361 companies involved
in alternative proteins and 583
companies working on ingredients
and equipment.
An emerging market
Nevertheless, " alternative proteins
are a nascent category, " according
to a February 16 blog post from
GFI. " Plant-based meat represents a
little over 1% of the meat market in
the U.S., and cultivated meat has not
yet hit global markets, " says GFI. (For
more on cultivated meat, see Chem.
Eng., April 2022, pp. 14-19). " Over
the past decade, the alternative proteins
sector has attracted $14.2 billion
in private capital, with annual investments
nearly doubling every year on
average ... Buoyed by a slew of new
products and innovations coming to
market, alternative protein investments
almost tripled to $3.2 billion in
2020 before surging to a record $5.1
billion in 2021, " according to GFI.
Equipment-vendor news
Realizing the need for engineering
and upscaling to industrial-scale protein
production, international technol12
ogy
AG
(Graz,
group Andritz
Austria;
www.andritz.com)
is
strengthening its
range of
proteinproduction
services.
" We are thus supporting
protein producers
with process
solutions ranging
from raw materials
to protein powders
and extrudates, "
says Christian Kling,
Andriz's Product
Home Manager for
Alternative Protein Solutions. " Combining
our knowledge from the foodand-feed
industry, Andritz becomes
a one-stop-shop for machines, systems
and engineering around alternative
protein production to the market
for food, pet food and feed. "
For testing and validation of process
lines, Andritz is investing in
a 600-m2 Food Innovation Center
in Waddinxveen, the Netherlands.
Scheduled to open in the second half
of 2023, " this new test center allows
testing all types of processes based
on Andritz and other equipment - of
course, under food-grade and ATEX
conditions, " says Kling.
" At the same time, Andritz is growing
its offerings, " Kling continues.
" Last year Andritz launched Turbex
[Figure 1] as the first step in a radical
new extraction process. " Turbex
helps to produce high-quality extracts
from botanicals and natural products
and turn waste, such as orange peel
or brewer's spent grain (BSG), into
revenue-generating nutrients.
This patented extraction technology
uses a series of rotors and stators
to cause thousands of cavitation
events per second, resulting in
higher yields in shorter processing
times. Assisted by a counter-current
process, Turbex delivers yields up to
50% higher than conventional sysAndritz
FIGURE
1. In addition to its high efficiency and lower extraction temperature,
the Turbex may, in some cases, operate with water instead of ethanol
as the extraction solvent, which reduces both costs and carbon footprint
tems, the company says. The low extraction
temperature combined with
the short processing time improves
the product quality as oxidization of
valuable polyphenols and antioxidants
is avoided, and requires 30%
less energy than conventional extraction
methods, Andritz says. " Multiple
tests on different raw materials and
side streams are showing impressive
results and will lead to a rapid market
introduction, " says Kling.
Meanwhile, GEA AG (Düsseldorf,
Germany; www.gea.com) established,
last year, its New Food business unit
(BU), which is headed by Heinz Jürgen
Kroner. The new BU is mainly focused
on cell-based protein production. The
company also established a center of
competence for bioreactors in Denmark
to help meet the demand for
scaling up fermentation processes.
" Many technologies needed to create
alternative proteins are quite similar
to those we use when producing
traditional foods or even pharmaceuticals, "
said Kroner in a GEA report,
" New Food Frontiers, " published in
January. " Our traditional customers
in the brewery or dairy business, for
example, usually come to us with a
very clear and robust idea of what
they want to build ... However, in
this new field, which is very start-up
dominated, we often deal with cusCHEMICAL
ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
APRIL 2023

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Chemical Engineering April 2023

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