Shaping the future of the alt protein waste: A fungi - algae partnership

Important results from the project

The purpose of the project was to explore the possibilities of using waste streams from fungal fermentation to grow seaweed, thus decreasing the environmental impact of the process further. The goals of this project were first to determine the feasibility of growing seaweed using gases from the fermentation of mycoprotein, and second to use this seaweed as growth substrate for the fungi, using at the same time wastewater from the fermentation process as growth medium.

Expected long term effects

We determined that fungal fermentation gases increased the growth rate of seaweed to comparable levels to pure CO2. The seaweed was also suitable as a growth additive to the fungi, at similar or higher levels than yeast extract. The species of seaweed used in the project was not capable of growing in the fungal wastewater, so in the future other species of seaweed or microalgae could be evaluated. The seaweed or microalgae used can then be fed to the fungi to boost the growth and generate novel food products with unique nutritional profiles.

Approach and implementation

The setup to grow seaweed was established in Mycorena´s facility, with the help and expertise of Volta Greentech team. We prepared triplicates of three different conditions, a control with air pumped throughout the light cycle of growth, a control with pH regulated by 100% CO2 (similar conditions as Volta grows seaweed) and our condition with air being pumped from the fungal fermentation vessels during the same time as the regular air. Custom fermentation gases were tested in Volta and compared to pure CO2. Fungi was grown in bioreactors using seaweed as supplement.