Slated to come online in late 2022, the new pilot plant will produce a highly concentrated protein isolate intended for food and beverages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith GEA\u2019s expertise in engineering plants for food ingredients, we look forward to starting operations in a highly innovative facility that will also house our research and innovation center,\u201d said Kees van de Watering, VP Process Engineering at Aker BioMarine.<\/p>\n
The partners signed the engineering, procurement and construction contract valued in the double-digit million euro range in July 2021.<\/p>\n
Aker BioMarine\u2019s decision to co-operate with GEA was motivated in part by the systems supplier\u2019s consistent pursuit of sustainability together with the reduced carbon footprint its process technology offers. GEA will engineer the pilot plant for krill protein with a view to sustainability. While every component\u2019s energy consumption and longevity are checked, major efficiency gains are secured thanks to streamlined process planning and automation.<\/p>\n
GEA has been tasked with designing all technical processes in the krill protein hydrolysis pilot plant as well as supplying and integrating the machinery and components. The plant will utilize the GEA CODEX based automation system. Thanks to a highly flexible design, the facility lends itself to further product development and innovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe functional food \u2013 or New Food \u2013 market is currently evolving very dynamically. Innovators such as Aker BioMarine are not only unlocking entirely new sources of human nutrition and health but also doing so without compromising the climate and environment,\u201d said Heinz-J\u00fcrgen Kroner, SVP Liquid Technologies at GEA, commenting on the boom in this growth market that also holds strategic importance for GEA.<\/p>\n
\u201cAssisting in developing new food sources provides us with an exciting opportunity to showcase our own creativity in process technology.\u201d The pilot plant is to serve as a benchmark for further protein hydrolysis equipment in the future.<\/p>\n
Having recently been generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by an expert panel, INVI, a sustainably sourced krill protein hydrolysate and the final product from the pilot plant, is now ready to be marketed in the United States. Krill protein has a complete, well-balanced amino acid profile and protein content of over 90%. Hydrolysates are known to be well absorbed by the human body as a result of the hydrolysis that takes place in the process and is consequently well suited to use in functional foods.<\/p>\n
Following extensive research into protein powder, Aker BioMarine has developed a production process that converts protein flour into high-quality protein hydrolysate powder for human consumption. In commissioning the pilot plant, which will expand production from the current lab-based operation into a scalable, industrial process with an annual capacity of 120 tonnes, Aker BioMarine will develop and sell commercial products and work with partners to create new market opportunities.\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GEA is to design and deliver the world\u2019s first pilot plant for hydrolyzing krill protein for Norwegian biotechnology company Aker BioMarine which uses catches of Antarctic krill to develop ingredients for functional foods, aquaculture and animal feed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-6572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-processing-refrigeration"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6574,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6572\/revisions\/6574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6572"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=6572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}