Over 11 years, Professor Christopher Chuck and his team at the University of Bath have developed sustainable alternatives to oils and fats, such as palm oil.

The process uses a specific strain of yeast, Metschnikowia pulcherrima (Mp), found on the surface of grapes used in winemaking. Mp can metabolise a wide range of carbon sources, producing a yeast-based alternative to edible oils, like soybean or palm. This alternative has a vastly reduced environmental impact and could provide a crucial sustainable substitute.

Addressing growing public demand

To address the growing public demand for sustainable alternatives to traditional oils and fats, such as palm and soy, and to scale up the technology to a commercially viable level, Professor Chuck co-founded Clean Food Group.

The team used directed evolution, a process that mimics natural selection, to develop a commercial strain of Mp. This increased its growth rate three-fold, reaching the threshold for commercial viability, and building a viable process around using food waste as the carbon source for the yeast, promoting a circular food system.

Now, with Professor Chuck as its Technical Lead, Clean Food Group is collaborating with industry partners to bring novel products to market.

Early research

The scientific groundwork needed to develop this technology was enabled by several UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) grants.

Early Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding came via the Plants to Products Network in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy.

The funding supported crucial proof of concept research on Mp’s ability to produce an alternative oil. This project, in collaboration with Croda, tested whether Mp could produce lipids from an agricultural residue feedstock.

In 2016, Professor Chuck was awarded a £3.19 million Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst (IBCAT) grant, co-funded by EPSRC, BBSRC and Innovate UK. The project was a collaboration between the University of York and industry partners AB Agri, Croda and C-TECH.

The IBCAT grant was to develop a pilot-scale biorefinery to see if marketable compounds could be produced at a suitable scale. The project was a great success, proving that the technology could produce the palm oil substitute cost-effectively.

An EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account award also supported pilot work, enabling the team to demonstrate the technology at pilot scale for the first time.

The environmental cost of palm oil

Palm oil is versatile, low-cost, and the most widely consumed vegetable oil in the world. Once refined, it’s colourless, odourless, and tasteless and easily incorporated into food, beauty, and hygiene products. It is a popular choice amongst major brands due to its many useful properties, including its ability to extend shelf life.

The UK is 100% dependent on palm oil imports which feature in over 50% of products found in a supermarket. Outside the UK, it’s also used for animal feed and biofuel.

However, it’s also known widely for its environmental damage as it:

drives deforestation

destroys the habitat of endangered species

releases carbon and greenhouse gases into the environment

dramatically reduces biodiversity

pollutes waterways