The 40 Hottest Technologies of 2018 – as voting gets underway, the nominees in depth
Managed Ecosystem Fermentation
What does it do, how does it work, who is it aimed at?
Managed Ecosystem Fermentation (MEF) rapidly converts unused cellulosic biomass into multiple high-value products that have applications in many industries. MEF is based on a biological process that has worked in nature for thousands of years. The process converts cellulose into protein that can be sold as a replacement for fishmeal. MEF is the industrialization of the first stomach of a ruminant animal (i.e. cow, goat, sheep, deer, etc.) Unlike most processes that take in multiple materials to produce a single product, MEF takes in a single material to produce multiple products. The products produced are protein, lipids, enzymes, and volatile fatty acids. Potential feedstocks include pre and post-consumer food waste, agricultural residues, food processing by-products, waste paper, and paper mill sludge. MEF makes unused biomass into an economic resource.
Competitively, what gives this technology an edge?
MEF works with a non-homogenous, non-sterile, feedstock under non-sterile conditions to produce a consistent dry, stable, sterile protein. It works in high-density plastic vessels at moderate temperatures and atmospheric pressure. All of the equipment used in the MEF process can be purchased from existing industrial manufacturers. MEF is an automated process with minimal labor involved in its operation. The feedstock is available at no or low cost or perhaps subsidized with a tipping fee. MEF utilizes over 3,000 species of microbes simultaneously which minimizes its susceptibility to phages. It works because a multispecies process has more chemical pathways to break down the biomass than any single species. The MEF process can process about 1 metric ton of biomass per cubic meter of fermentation per day. This is 150 times faster than anaerobic digestion. The end products have significantly higher value than biogas or compost; protin has a market value of $1,600 per ton.
What stage of development is this technology at right now?
Work is now underway for building demonstration facilities in France and the United States.
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