Arbiom Sees Future in Feed, Food Derived from Wood

Few people believe pigs can fly.

But a Durham agricultural biotechnology company is demonstrating that pigs can thrive on feed made from wood, if you treat it right.

Arbiom, which is developing technology to convert wood into feed and food, says it has just completed successful trials of its protein product, SylPro, for weanling pig nutrition. Weanlings, or “weaners,” are those that are newly removed from their mothers’ milk and developing the ability to survive on other food and water.

The Arbiom-sponsored research determined the digestibility of amino acids, energy, and phosphorus in a torula yeast protein ingredient produced by the company.

“Our study shows we can use the torula yeast product instead of fish meal in diets for weanling pigs,” said Hans H. Stein, professor in the department of animal sciences at the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES), after analyzing the diet in the Arbiom research. 

“Torula yeast has greater digestibility of amino acids and phosphorus, but not energy, compared with a commercial source of fish meal fed to weanling pigs,” he said.

Torula yeast is made from wood processing. It is currently used primarily as a seasoning or flavoring agent in human food, where it imparts a meaty taste. SyPro is produced by fermenting wood sugars followed by downstream processing to wash, pasteurize, and dry it into a powder. Arbiom is commercializing technology to produce the protein ingredient at industrial scale for use in feed and food applications.

'Expanding the pie of protein production'

Ricardo Ekmay, Arbiom’s vice president of nutrition & product development, added, “We at Arbiom believe digestibility is a critical component of sustainability. Greater nutrient utilization, particularly of nitrogen and phosphorus, directly translates to a lower environmental impact.”

In an interview with the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Ekmay confirmed that the torula yeast product may also have immune-boosting properties that will be more closely looked at in future studies. “In vitro studies suggest it has bioactive properties that may impart benefits to gastrointestinal health. We’re pursuing that aggressively.”

While Arbiom is currently focused on the feed market, Ekmay noted that the current boom in plant-based meat products may result in a nice fit in that market as well. Used as a flavoring agent, the torula yeast is added at very low levels, about 1%. Ekmay said, “Our aspiration is for it to be a much greater proportion, above 20% of a product to produce high nutritional value as protein in animal feed or human nutrition.”

The idea is to “expand the pie of protein production, making the pie bigger by making protein from non-protein sources,” Ekmay explained.

Arbiom, founded over a decade ago as a French contract research organization, shifted to a product development company in the food and feed space three years ago and is still backed financially by a French family office. It is headquartered in Durham and has offices in Paris.

Ekmay said the company plans a demonstration project with partners in the 2020-2021 timeframe to evaluate production of SlyPro on a larger scale. It hopes to be able to produce thousands of tons by 2022 and beyond, enough to commercialize the product. The company will seek additional investors and particularly strategic partners to boost its commercialization efforts.

Ekmay said Arbiom’s platform technology is robust, and in the future can accommodate production of other microorganisms such as bacteria, microalgae, or fungi. “It’s well suited for development of a number of products,” he said.