PROFIT

Climate-friendly proteins for the future

Imagine a world where organic waste can be turned into new products that benefit the climate, environment, economy and the green transition.

PROFIT is a pioneering Danish research project, supported by Innovation Fund Denmark, working to realize this vision.

We are a strong group of researchers, industry specialists and knowledge institutions that will pave the way from idea to action by demonstrating how Copenhagen's green household waste can be turned into nutritious feed protein.

The PROFIT project will address the biotechnological, process technological, economic and societal challenges that currently stand in the way of the protein revolution the world needs to meet the ever-increasing demand for protein.

Need for new solutions

By 2050, the world will need to produce around 1,250 million tons of meat and dairy products per year to meet global demand¹. This will increase the demand for feed ingredients.

Traditional animal feed production requires high land and water consumption, is sensitive to climate change and impacts the environment. Therefore, new and innovative solutions are needed.

💡 Did you know...

...that we currently use 80% of Danish agricultural land for the production of animal feed?

...that Denmark imports approximately 1.8 million tons of soy annually for animal feed in agriculture?

...that calculations from the University of Copenhagen estimate that Danish soy and palm oil imports cause emissions of over 7 million tons of CO2 every year?

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ThePROFIT project will therefore demonstrate how bacteria can be used to convert biogas from organic waste into nutritious feed protein. By using organic waste to produce feed ingredients, we can contribute to solving the climate and environmental challenges associated with animal feed production today.

From food waste to added value

According to a UN report, global food waste amounts to more than 1 billion tons per year. This is equivalent to households throwing away one billion meals a day.

In Denmark, there is an increasing focus on collecting organic waste for recycling. The roll-out of waste schemes and increased focus on sorting has increased the amount of organic waste from households from 23,000 tons in 2011 to 220,000 tons in 2021².

The increasing amounts of organic waste create great opportunities for initiatives like ours that rely on large amounts of biogas to scale production.

Facts about food waste in Denmark

🍏 The total annual food waste in Denmark was 873,014 tons in 2024

🍏 This corresponds to 3.8% of Denmark's total CO2 emissions

🍏 Food waste costs Danes DKK 13.5 billion per year including VAT and taxes

🍏 Each Dane throws away 47 kg of edible food per year

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Today, organic waste is converted into biogas, which is burned for electricity and heat production. The residues from biogas production are used as compost fertilizer in the fields.

The PROFIT project's vision is to utilize organic waste far more efficiently than is currently possible.

Our researchers have developed a method using cutting-edge biotechnology that uses microorganisms to convert organic waste into feed protein with high nutritional value and low land and water consumption.

By recycling organic waste more efficiently than today, we not only reduce resource waste, but also contribute to a circular economy where resources are not only better utilized, but upgraded into new products with a higher value.

When we upgrade organic waste into new and more valuable products, we can both strengthen the economy and reduce pressure on the earth's resources, benefiting the environment, climate and the green transition.

A protein revolution

According to Boland et al. (2013), the growing demand for meat and dairy protein will require improvements in livestock production and a greater openness to new protein sources, both for animal feed and food.

Because plant protein is inefficiently converted into meat protein (approximately 6 kg of plant protein is needed to produce 1 kg of meat protein), increasing meat production to match the growing demand will not be sustainable³. A protein revolution is needed!

Single Cell Protein (SCP) - protein produced by microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast, fungi or algae - has enormous potential as a sustainable protein source for feed and food.

Facts about Single Cell Protein

The market for SCP is estimated to exceed USD 18.5 billion by 2036.

SCP is produced in production facilities that, unlike traditional agriculture, are not sensitive to the seasons and can produce year-round.

The protein content in meat is generally around 45%, while in soybeans it is around 35%. SCP has a protein content of 50-80%

Production of SCP requires far less land and water consumption, but on the other hand large amounts of energy, which in the long term must come from green energy.

The high energy consumption, expensive construction costs and the lack of efficient process technology means that the production of SCP is currently more expensive than traditional feed production.

Plant-based protein sources, such as beans, are nutritionally valuable protein sources, but require agricultural land and water - resources that will become limiting as we try to meet the global demand for protein.

PROFIT will demonstrate how SCP can meet the challenges of future animal production by showing how SCP can be scaled to become a real alternative to the way feed ingredients are produced today.

SCP has a number of advantages that make the technology a potential game changer for the industry, but there is a lot of work to be done in selecting new bacterial strains suitable for large-scale production and developing process technologies that can make production as cost-effective as possible.

There are also a number of regulatory barriers to proteins produced by microorganisms. However, these may be reduced in the coming years as both Denmark and the EU increase their focus on biosolutions and the use of so-called regulatory sandboxes, where new solutions can be tested and find their way to the market faster.

We see opportunities in the big challenges

PROFIT is a collaboration between six competent partners who contribute with the necessary technical, research and organizational skills to achieve our ambitions. Behind us is Innovation Fund Denmark, which is funding the project.

Together we will show how innovative solutions can turn our biggest challenges into opportunities. By transforming the increasing amounts of organic waste into new resources, we take an important step towards a more sustainable and responsible future and help position Denmark as a frontrunner in biotechnology.

We create PROFIT together

Amager Ressourcecenter (ARC)
Manages waste collection in the City of Copenhagen, reaching almost 1 million waste collections in 2023. Provides expertise in waste collection and incentives to upgrade organic waste.

DTU(Technical University of Denmark)
Provides technological expertise and physical laboratories - including research and development in scaling and development of SCP, as well as qualification of the economic and process technology challenges.

Knowledge Hub Zealand
Contributes with project coordination and communication, as well as facilitating knowledge sharing between the partners.

Københavns Kommune
Contributes with incentives and information about the social value of upgrading organic waste to SCP.

Roskilde University
Contributes with expert knowledge and studies of the regulatory opportunities and obstacles of SCP production for animal feed, as well as the benefits of SCP for the major buyers of feed ingredients, including agriculture.

Unibio A/S
Contributes with economic and process technology expertise regarding production and scaling of microbial proteins.