Single-cell protein from methanol (Pruteen)
Proteína unicelular a partir de metanol (Pruteen)
- Date
- 1979-1980 · confidence medium
- Place
- Billingham, Teesside, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries)
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
ICI grew the bacterium Methylophilus methylotrophus in a 1,500 m³ airlift fermenter fed with methanol and ammonia to obtain protein meal (Pruteen) for animal feed. It was the largest continuous bioreactor of its time, although it fell to the price of soy.
The USSR developed in parallel from the 1960s an industry of feed yeast from paraffins (Glavmikrobioprom); ICI's plant closed in 1980–1985 owing to competition from soy. The fermenter volume (1,500 m³) is the commonly cited figure.
What it led to
- large-scale airlift bioreactors
- Quorn mycoprotein (Rank Hovis McDougall, 1985) and other alternative proteins
- today's single-cell protein from natural gas and CO2 (Calysta, Solar Foods)