14 DAY TRIAL // The biofuels industry is developing at a rather quick pace, and environmentalists could not be happier. As it turns out, chickens might soon join in on the celebration.
Researchers working with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council say that, according to their investigations, it is possible to extract proteins from the fermenters used to brew bioethanol and use them to feed chickens.
They say that, when compared to the soya-based proteins feeds presently used by farm workers to fatten up chickens, the yeast protein concentrate extracted from broth resulting from bioethanol production is equally nutritious. What's more, it is cost-competitive.
“Bioethanol is already a 60-billion-litre per year global market but this project shows the fuel itself is only half the story – immense value lies within other co-product streams too. As well as the proteins, the yeast content provides important vitamins and other micronutrients,” says Dr. Emily Burton of Nottingham Trent University.
Furthermore, “One concern with bioethanol is the perception it will compete with food crops for limited farmland. Our new work shows how the two can live side by side.”
The researchers who worked on this project theorize that, all things considered, it might also be possible to use yeast protein concentrate to feed fish reared at commercial farms.