Valpromic

Impetus joined the Valpromic project (Clarebout Potatoes, Agristo, Avecom) at a challenging time. The Valpromic process, in which Single-Cell Proteins (SCP) are created on waste- and processwater streams, was proven successful on lab scale. Impetus designed, built and operated the pilot setup to validate the complete process and to collect all the necessary data to build up the business case. 

Solving the problem of the drying step in the production process was the most challenging hurdle to unlock a positive business case. Impetus compared and tested many drying techniques that were theoretically possible, and redesigned the drying process to be tested. A small scale dryer was built to validate the process and later upscaled for the pilot setup.

In the next phase, the SCP creation process was scaled up twice, increasing the capacity tenfold each time. Main focus: to identify the sensitivity of the incoming wastewater streams and to better characterize the quality of the created SCP. Impetus designed the equipment to be easily relocated. 

After process validation, Impetus was the driving force to further finetune the business case, including business development.