Gas fermentation for the production of protein or feed

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10856560-B2
Application number	US-201615159479-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2016
Priority date	May 21, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

The invention provides animal feed comprising microbial biomass and methods of producing animal feed by culturing a microorganism to produce microbial biomass. In particular, the invention relates to animal feed produced by fermentation of a gaseous substrate comprising one or more of CO, CO2, and H2, especially by a Gram-positive, anaerobic, and/or Clostridium microorganism.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for producing animal feed, comprising culturing a microorganism in the presence of a gaseous substrate comprising one or more of CO, CO 2 or H 2 , the gaseous substrate sourced from an industrial waste gas, an industrial off gas, or syngas, under fermentation conditions including a dilution rate greater than 1/day, to maximize production of microbial biomass, isolating the biomass from the fermentation broth, drying the microbial biomass wherein the microbial biomass contains greater than 85% protein by weight on a dry solids basis, and combining the microbial biomass with an excipient to produce animal feed, wherein the microorganism is an anaerobe selected from the group consisting of Acetobacterium woodii, Alkalibaculum bacchii, Blauia producta, Buyribacterium methvlolrophicum, Closiridium acelicum, Clostridium autoethanogenum, Clostridium carboxidmvorans, Clostridium coskatii, Clostridium drakel, Closridium formicoaceticum, Clostridium ljungdahlii, Clostridium magnum, Clostridium ragsdalei, Clostridium scatologenes, Eubacterium limosum, Moorella thermautotrophica, Moorella thermoacetica, Oxobacter pfennigii, Sporomusa ovata, Sporomusa silvacetica, Sporomusa sphaeroides, Thermoanaerobacter kiuvi and mixtures thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises reducing the nucleic acid content of the microbial biomass.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises one or more steps selected from the group consisting of sterilizing the microbial biomass and centrifuging the microbial biomass.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the drying is spray drying or paddle drying.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises blending the microbial biomass with the excipient.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the microorganism is selected from the group consisting of Clostridium autoethanogenum, Clostridium ljungdahlii, Clostridium ragsdalei , and Clostridium coskatii.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gaseous substrate comprises CO.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gaseous substrate does not comprise methane.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the animal feed is suitable for feeding to livestock or pets.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the animal feed is suitable for feeding to one or more of beef cattle, dairy cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, mules, donkeys, deer, buffalo/bison, llamas, alpacas, reindeer, camels, bantengs, gayals, yaks, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, quail, guinea fowl, squabs/pigeons, fish, shrimp, crustaceans, cats, dogs, and rodents.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the excipient comprises one or more of a carbohydrate, fiber, fat, protein, vitamin, mineral, water, flavor, sweetener, antioxidant, enzyme, preservative, probiotic, or antibiotic.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the excipient comprises one or more of alfalfa, animal fat, bakery waste, barley, beet pulp, bermudagrass, blood meal or plasma, brewer's grain, brewer's yeast, bromegrass, buckwheat, canarygrass, canola, casein, citrus pulp, clover, coconut, corn, corn cob, cottonseed, feather meal, fescue, fish meal or solubles, hominy, meat or bone meal, milk, millet, molasses, oats, orchardgrass, peas, peanuts, poultry meal, rice, rye, ryegrass, safflower, sesame, sorghum, soybean, sunflower, timothy, triticale, urea, wheat, whey, or yeast.

Assignees

• Lanzatech New Zealand Ltd

Inventors

• Simpson Sean
• Allen Wyatt Eric
• Conrado Robert John
• Molloy Sean

Classifications

• Y02E50/10

  Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel · CPC title

• A23K50/40

  for carnivorous animals, e.g. cats or dogs · CPC title

• A23K50/30

  for swines · CPC title

• A23K50/10

  for ruminants · CPC title

• A23K10/12 Primary

  by fermentation of natural products, e.g. of vegetable material, animal waste material or biomass · CPC title