Fuel to feed: U of A students create animal feed from coal

Ever heard of animal feed derived from coal? Yes, coal… Researchers at the University of Alberta are working with an Alberta-based startup Cv̄ictus, to get an edible coal-derived protein into the marketplace, replacing less eco-friendly ingredients in animal feed.

Powered in part by a US$1.7-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the project modernizes fermentation technology to create a nutrient-rich, low-cost protein with a smaller environmental footprint, offering a scalable solution for global feed markets.

The research is being conducted by David Bressler and Ruurd Zijlstra in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences.

Bressler’s Biorefining Conversions and Fermentation Laboratory has improved the technology needed to make single-cell protein (SCP) which is a nutrient-rich, low-cost substitute for fish meal and soybean meal that is the standard protein sources used in animal feed.

“This could be a game changer in several ways. Moreover, this protein powder would then be mixed with other feeds like corn,” said Bressler who is a Bioresource Technology and Fermentation professor at the University of Alberta.

The startup Cv̄ictus is focused on extracting hydrogen from deep coal seams without mining, converting it to produce clean methanol, and then from there, making SCP for use in livestock feed. The leftover carbon is then captured and sequestered back underground.

Mark Lawley, researcher at Cv̄ictus Fermentation Group says the product will help the environment. “In some places, they’re cutting down the forest for story mill for animal feeds, this process especially with the reinjection of those gases back into the coal seam, ends up being a much better environmental process.”

The U of A research will also yield several new “downstream” processes and technologies to move SCP forward, Bressler notes.

“The work will reduce production costs and increase the quality of the product for end users, such as feed companies.”

The feed is not yet approved to be used by livestock, but Bressler expects testing and commercialization to happen soon.  The technology will eventually be used at a first-of-its-kind facility Cv̄ictus plans to build near Red Deer.