Biotechnology

Biography

Biography: Marion Champeaud

Abstract

Utilization of whey or whey permeate is one of major concerns of the dairy industry nowadays, especially the acid whey, which mostly remains untreated prior to disposal. In 2010, 734 million tons of milk, and 160 - 180 million tons of whey per year were produced worldwide (Guimaraes et al., 2010). In 2014, milk production was higher than 800 million tons and is constantly increasing over the years. Despite the different strategies considered by the industrials to valorize whey: lactose crystallization, food applications in bakery products, dry mixes, snack, and milk replacer, alcoholic fermentation, or biogas conversion, only 50 % of this whey is processed (Mollea et al., 2013 ; Siso1996). A new industrial fermentation model was developed by Fermentalg to valorize these dairy by-products to obtain added-value bio-products at the same time. During this process, the microalgae Galdieria sulphuraria is able to consume 100% lactose, 98% of lactate and 79 % of the citrate present in whey permeate. The biomass production depends on by-product lactose concentration and range from 30 to more than 110 g/l of dry matter. In addition to direct bio-remediation of industrial dairy waste, the algae biomass produced show a real nutritional interest due to its high protein content (> 50 %) and is naturally rich in essential amino acid. Thanks to its own bioreactor enlightenment system Fermentalg is able to enhance phycocyanin production without modifying the overall protein content of the biomass.