Chemical Engineering March 2021 - 9

Anaerobic fermentation process using
human gut microfauna
I
ndustrial-scale production of protein-rich food additives based on anaerobic fermentation
is slated to begin later this year at a former bioethanol site in Minnesota. The facility will
use a fermentation process developed by White Dog Labs (WDL; Newark, Del.; www.
whitedoglabs.com) that involves microbial species found in the human gut microbiome.
The company employs a set of bacterial screening approaches designed to select not
only for the production of specific metabolites, but also simultaneously for cell composition
- specifically for high protein concentration. The anaerobic fermentation of sugars
at the Minnesota site will be operated to produce protein-rich biomass that will be used
as additives for human food and animal feed. Variations of the process can also produce
metabolites (such as vitamins and short-chain fatty acids like butyrate and acetate) from
sugars, and can be set up for gas fermentation.
" Current fermentation processes harvest metabolites generated by microbes, but we are
also simultaneously maximizing the value of the biomass, " says Bryan Tracy, CEO of WDL. This
is done by focusing on microbes capable of producing high levels of protein and then using the
microbes themselves as a protein source with a desirable amino acid profile, Tracy explains.
" We have an array of bacterial selection approaches that can 'tweeze out' microbiome-derived
bacteria species that have the properties that we are looking for, including
fast growth rate, metabolite production and amino acid profile, and also those that could
not be grown under standard laboratory conditions, " Tracy adds.
The company is targeting microbe strains from the human microbiome that would not
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ordinarily grow under standard laboratory conditions. " We are mimicking more closely the
native gut microbiome environment to expand populations of species you wouldn't find in the
laboratory, including the gut microbiome of humans, chickens, cow and others, " Tracy says.
An advantage of anaerobic (without oxygen) fermentation processes is that the management
of oxygen content is not necessary, so larger fermentation tanks can be used because
you don't have to worry about introducing O2, Tracy notes.
n
conventional polymers.
Prospective applications
for such durability include
automobiles, appliances
and sporting goods.
Toray focused on polyrotaxane
- a supramolecular
polymer with a beaded
or necklace-like structure,
its molecules consisting of
strings and rings - which
has a sliding molecular
bond, as a polymer whose
structure moves in response
to external forces.
The company endeavored
to balance the inherent
attributes of PA6 and fatigue
resistance by finely
dispersing polyrotaxane in
the resin.
Toray used its proprietary
Nanoalloy microstructurecontrol
technology to
maximize the effectiveness
of polyrotaxane by dispersing
it in the 10-nm crystals
of PA6. The resulting flexible
stress-dispersion mechanism
led to the creation of
the new polymer.
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9

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Chemical Engineering March 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering March 2021