Aerbio, formerly Deep Branch Biotechnology Ltd, has advanced its project to convert industrial CO2 and hydrogen into Proton, a sustainable feed protein for salmon and chickens.
The renaming follows a management buyout of Nottingham-based Deep Branch, with leadership remaining under CEO Kaspar Kristiansen, CTO Rob Mansfield, CXO Peter Rowe and Chairman Lars Topholm.
Aerbio’s new pilot plant is located at the prestigious Brightlands Chemelot Campus in the Netherlands, a center for circular chemistry and chemical processes, and is fully operational after initial delays. The site currently produces 200 kg of proton per month, which is used to support larger feed trials.
In addition, planning work is currently underway for a demonstration plant with an expected production capacity of 25 tons of proton per year. Beyond animal feed, Aerbio is also exploring opportunities in the food industry to expand the applications of its protein product.
By converting gases using a fermentation system, the (R)evolve technology platform, no farmland is required to produce Proton and the sites could be used anywhere industrial processes produce food-grade carbon dioxide and hydrogen, Aerbio claims.
financing
The company will soon raise a Series A funding round, CXO Peter Rowe told us.
He admits that the financing situation has been difficult in recent years, but sees an evolution. “There is currently some promising activity in the venture capital industry, which is great. I expect we will see several deals in the next few weeks, especially in the biotech sector.”
He adds that the startup is fortunate to have “very supportive” shareholders.
“The acquisition of Deep Branch and the creation of Aerbio was made possible by those shareholders who believe in our vision. They recognize the challenges we have overcome and continue to have faith in our company and our technology. Thanks to their support, we have secured sufficient capital to bring our pilot plant online and fully operational as planned. This will allow us to leverage its results for application development while we continue to raise additional funds, primarily for the construction of the demonstration plant we have in the pipeline.”
Aerbio also announced the addition of two experienced business leaders to its Board of Directors: Alexander Lacik, CEO of Pandora, and Birgitte Skadhauge, Vice President of Research and Development at Carlsberg Group.
And the company continues to work with a consortium of partners in the UK, including the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), AB Agri and BioMar, as part of the REACT-FIRST initiative, which involves collaboration across the entire value chain.
Market applications
Aerbio positions itself as an ingredient supplier and aims to develop a broad range of applications. The aim is to give the team the flexibility to conduct early product R&D work in different markets:
“Our versatile pilot plant will support this and enable us to effectively advance these development activities,” said Rowe.
Aerbio sees its product as a replacement for animal rather than plant protein. “If an application is based purely on sustainability, it is certainly interesting for us, but the real value lies in the performance.”
From salmon feed to human nutrition and animal feed
One of the four main target markets is aquaculture. “We are focusing primarily on this because the product is particularly well suited to this sector due to its high protein content, balanced amino acid profile and other properties.”
Rowe notes an increasing use of single cell proteins in the human food market, an area that is also of great interest to the company. “In this market, factors such as texture, taste and mouthfeel need to be considered, which requires a different application development process to that of animal nutrition. We have secured a strong partner for this and will be announcing further details shortly.”
The innovator is also looking into the application of starter feed in the monogastric sector. “Similar to aquaculture, this market has nutritional factors that fit well with the strengths of our product,” he explains.
Another segment that the company has specifically focused on is pet food, especially food for cats and dogs.
“This market lies between human food and the nutrition of high-performance animals, such as aquaculture, making it another promising area for research in these areas.”
“Our goal is to ultimately have a balanced sales portfolio that also includes the ability to enter and sell into higher margin markets,” comments the CXO.
Production scale
The plan is to have the demonstration plant online by 2026 and a commercial-scale plant operational by 2028.
“The demo plant will allow us to integrate all the unit operations that will be present at the commercial level to a relevant extent. It will also help us refine the control strategies and daily operations that will determine what the full-scale plant will look like.”
The company’s long-term strategy includes setting up regional production sites: “I don’t envision a completely decentralized model with lots of small plants spread across the globe. Rather, the goal is to have central regional hubs that are able to effectively supply local markets,” says Rowe.
Raw material costs
Aerbio needs CO2, hydrogen and oxygen for its processes. These raw materials are becoming increasingly available and affordable, he confirms.
“When you look at carbon capture and utilization projects, sourcing large quantities of high-purity CO2, like the food-grade CO2 we use, has become relatively straightforward. However, our greatest cost sensitivity is with hydrogen, which is the largest contributor to our manufacturing costs.
“As many ‘Power-to-X’ projects are springing up, you can find locations with abundant, low-cost renewable energy that can be used. This fits well with our strategy. There are several hydrogen-based technologies coming to market, such as those used in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and green ammonia projects. The basic principle of these projects is similar to ours: go where electricity is cheap and use it to make a highly sustainable product,” notes Rowe.
