Technologies for cost-effectively making fodder yeast enriched in Omega-3

Mission

Our mission is to enable cost-effective, large-scale production of yeasts with balanced protein and Omega-3 fatty acids for human, animal and fish consumption. We believe we can do this at very low capital and operating expenses (CAPEX and OPEX) at any scale, from 1000 tons per year of yeast (single module) to many millions of tons per year of yeast (multiple modules).

Health Science

The scientific community recognizes that one of the most serious health problems in the world is the large amount of carbohydrate in most people’s diets - consisting of sugars and starches. This problem is especially acute in the USA and India, which have problems with Type-2 diabetes and other related metabolic disorders.

The scientific community also recognizes that other serious health problems are caused by insufficient Omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. These health problems are caused by inflammation and include heart problems and dementia.

Market Opportunity

It is clear that there is an oversupply of sugars and starches in the world, and this oversupply is increasing for two reasons - the reduced demand for bioethanol caused by electrification of transport and the reduced demand for sugar and starch caused by emergence of low-carbohydrate diets.

The future oversupply of sugars and starches is a golden market opportunity to sell fodder yeast with balanced amino acid profiles and enriched in Omega-3 fatty acids.

Technical Solution

The key technical challenge is to cost-effectively produce yeasts with balanced amino acid profiles and enriched in Omega-3 fatty acids. We believe this can be solved with a foam fermenter that performs continuous aerobic fermentation at high concentrations of yeasts while using an innovative contamination control technique.

We are using two yeasts - Candida utilis (Torula) with sugars and hydrolyzed starches and Pichia pastoris with glycerol and methanol. Both of these yeasts have a long history of being “Generally Recognized As Safe” (GRAS) for human, animal and fish consumption.

Both of these yeasts can be grown in continuous fermentation with a variable amount of fatty acids and proteins, where you can tune the sum of fatty acids and protein to comprise 50% of the dry weight of the yeast. When making yeast for feeding fish, a higher percentage of fatty acids can make it possible for this yeast to displace fish meal. The yeasts also contain higher amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids than when using submerged fermentation.

Economics Example

Each module fits in a 40 ft. shipping container and is prefabricated before site delivery. For each module, we anticipate a fermenter volume of 20 m3, a CAPEX of $15K producing 1000 tons of yeast/year and an operating profit of $1M/year.

A ton of protein requires about 2 tons of yeast. Two tons of sugar or methanol are needed to make a ton of yeast.

Since sugar (from starch) costs about $200/ton and methanol costs a similar amount, it takes about $800 of sugar, starch or methanol to make a ton of protein.

This makes it possible to make protein enriched in Omega-3 fatty acids at a price competitive with soy protein.

Contamination Control

Bacterial contamination is often the biggest technical problem when growing yeasts at an industrial-scale.

We’ve invented a patent-pending technology for preventing contamination by using urea as the sole nitrogen source along with titanium heat exchangers to reduce leaching of nickel. No acid wash or antibiotics are needed to prevent 100% of all bacterial contamination.

The main yeasts we are using with this inventions are Candida utilis (Torula) and Pichia pastoris.

This technique allows fermentation at pH 5 to pH 6 without bacterial contamination, and thus allows fermentation of hydrolysates containing large amounts of acetic acid.

Foam Fermentation

Our main invention is an aerobic fermenter that uses foam to provide large amounts of oxygen to microorganisms fermenting in the liquid part of foam.

This was first widely used at the sulfite paper mill Zellstofffabrik Waldhof near Mannheim, Germany between 1939 and 1949. This type of fermenter is commonly called a Waldhof Fermenter.

Our invention improves on the Waldhof fermenter in several significant ways, and when used with our contamination control invention allows continuous production of yeast for months at a time.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are essential to human life and are only provided in our diet by plants, animals, some yeasts and some algae.

When people consume too much Omega-6 fatty acid compared to Omega-3 fatty acid, people are more likely to have heart problems, high blood pressure, dementia and many other health problems.

The optimal ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 is between 2:1 and 1:2, but western diets usually have a ratio of 20:1 or worse, leading to poor health.

Our foam fermenter can produce Torula (Candida utilis) and Pichia pastoris yeasts with large amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids, which has been shown to be very nutritious for fish and chicken, and thus makes a more valuable feed for fish and chicken.

Protein from Methanol and Biodiesel Waste Glycerol

Coal and natural gas are being displaced by renewable energy, and both coal and natural gas can be used to make methanol. China currently makes more than 75 million tons of methanol per year.

A byproduct of biodiesel production is waste glycerol, which is a low-cost feedstock for growing Pichia pastoris yeast. About 50 million tons of waste glycerol are produced per year.

It’s possible to make low-cost protein from methanol and waste glycerol by growing Pichia pastoris yeast using our foam fermenter and our contamination control technique.

This yeast is high in protein and high in Omega-3 fatty acids.

Presentations

Ed Hamrick made a presentation at GrainTek 2023 in Moscow (English) (Russian). You can watch the presentation here.

Ed Hamrick made a presentation at ProteinTek 2023 in Moscow (English) (Russian). You can watch the presentation here.

Ed Hamrick made a presentation at ProteinTek 2024 in Moscow (English) (Russian).

Who are we?

Hamrick Engineering was founded in 2013 by Edward B. Hamrick.

Edward (Ed) Hamrick graduated with honors from the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) with a degree in Engineering and Applied Science. He worked for three years at NASA/JPL on the International Ultraviolet Explorer and Voyager projects and worked for ten years at Boeing as a Senior Systems Engineer and Engineering Manager. Subsequently, Ed worked for five years at Convex Computer Corporation as a Systems Engineer and Systems Engineering Manager. Ed has been a successful entrepreneur for the past 25 years.

Alex Ablaev, MBA, PhD is Sr. Worldwide Business Developer. Alex previously worked for Genencor's enzymatic hydrolysis division, and is the President of the Russian Biofuels Association as well as General Manager of NanoTaiga, a company in Russia using CelloFuel technologies in Russia.

Alan Pryce, CEng is Chief Engineer. Alan is an experienced professional mechanical engineer - Chartered Engineer (CEng) – Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) - with 10+ years’ experience in the mechanical design and project management of factory automation projects in UK and European factories. He has been a Senior Design Consultant and project manager for over 30 years working for Frazer-Nash Consultancy Ltd involved with many design and build contracts in the military, rail, manufacturing, and nuclear industries.

Maria Kharina, PhD, is Sr. Microbiology Scientist. Maria has a PhD in Biotechnology and is a researcher with 10+ years of experience. Maria was a Fulbright Scholar in the USA from 2016-2017.

Dr. Ryan P. O'Connor (www.oconnor-company.com) provides intellectual property strategy consulting and patent prosecution. Dr. O'Connor holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Minnesota. He has filed more than 1000 U.S. and PCT applications and is admitted to the Patent Bar, United States Patent & Trademark Office.

Hamrick Engineering Patent Portfolio