As a result of participating in the FEED-X program, Unibio has engaged with Skretting -- one of the world’s largest suppliers of feed for aquaculture production and a founding member of FEED-X.
Skretting has signed a Letter of Intent with Unibio and will begin testing Uniprotein® as a feed ingredient for fish and shrimp feed. The Letter of Intent indicates Skretting’s willingness to purchase thousands of tonnes of Uniprotein® if the testing goes according to expectations.
Unibio and its partners would need to invest millions of dollars to build the production capacity needed to realize the ambitions of the potential collaboration, and the potential revenue generation will be counted in hundreds of millions of dollars over the years to come.
Sustainable organic protein
Uniprotein® is produced based on fermentation of a microbial culture using methane as feedstock. It is an organic product and can easily be produced in very large scale. The ambition is to utilize methane, which would otherwise be wasted or put to use in less efficient processes. The quality of Uniprotein® is high, and it can easily replace high-value proteins like super-prime fishmeal and highly concentrated soy products. However, with Uniprotein®, the oceans will not be overfished, rainforest will not be cleared, and the methane can be used for something useful.
Robert van den Breemer, Procurement Director at Skretting, says the available volumes, start-up stage product pricing and low value-chain commitment of alternative ingredients today remain a limitation towards meeting the needs to the aquaculture industry in the future.
"We believe that our commitment with Unibio brings us another step closer towards ensuring the sustainable future of the aquaculture industry and fulfilling Skretting’s mission of ‘Feeding the Future,'" he says.
Henrik Busch-Larsen, Unibio CEO, agrees, stating in a future where we have to reduce the global environmental footprint of feed production significantly, he believes that Unibio delivers a game-changing technology.
"Imagine applying the global abundance of methane to produce an almost unlimited supply of protein," he says. "No need to add additional stress to the world’s oceans or agricultural systems. No need to clear more rainforest. This is the opportunity presented by the Unibio technology, which, by the way, is one of the few new protein technologies having made it to full scale.
"The collaboration with Skretting holds big potential for Unibio in terms of taking us to the next level of becoming a significant worldwide supplier of low-footprint and environmentally friendly protein," he continues.
Matchmaking through FEED-X
Unibio and Skretting met through the FEED-X program, whose purpose is to shift 10% of the global feed industry -- approximately 100 million tonnes -- to significantly reduce feed-related environmental impacts, by adopting alternative feed ingredients and feed-related technologies into value chains for aquaculture. The FEED-X programme is supported by Skretting, IKEA, WWF and other mission-aligned partners.
The expectations for Unibio’s contribution to the FEED-X programme are high. With Uniprotein® Unibio will enable the overcoming of some of the larger challenges that FEED-X has been designed for: To tackle the sustainability challenges of producing feed for animals and fish at an industry and global level and at a fast pace. In the long term FEED-X wants to be able to provide the world’s growing population with food produced in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
About Unibio
Unibio is a leading Danish industrial biotech company, which has developed a fermentation method for producing a remarkable sustainable organic and highly concentrated protein for the food and feed markets, decoupling protein production from farming and fishing.
The first (licensed) full-scale plant, built by Protelux, is being commissioned in Russia. The sustainable organic protein will be sold through a network of distributors as well as to large key accounts around the world.
Unibio is owned by the founding Busch-Larsen family as well as by a group of private investors and Mitsubishi Corp.
About Skretting
Skretting is a global leader in providing innovative and sustainable nutritional solutions and services for the aquaculture industry. Skretting has production facilities in 19 countries on five continents and manufactures and delivers high quality feeds from hatching to harvest for more than 60 species. The total annual production volume of feed is more than 2 million tonnes. In 2018 Skretting purchased over 2.4 million tonnes of feed ingredients at a total value of EUR 2bn. The head office is located in Stavanger, Norway. Its mission is Feeding the Future.
