Gulf Biotech and Unibio have signed a license agreement to produce sustainable and organic protein in gas-rich Qatar.

Gulf Biotech, the Doha-based industrial biotech investor, and Unibio, the leading sustainable protein company, have signed a license agreement to produce sustainable and organic protein in Qatar. The abundant availability of natural gas makes Qatar an ideal location for the conversion of natural gas into protein. Gulf Biotech has signed a license agreement for a plant that will initially have one module – consisting of four U-Loop® fermenters with a total annual capacity of 6,000 tonnes of Uniprotein®. The technology is based on a modular design and extra modules can easily be added to expand the production. Gulf Biotech will now focus on planning for the construction of the facility. The Uniprotein® produced in the plant will be used as a protein supplement in feed for fish and animals to replace unsustainable existing products derived from fish meal or soy. The planned facility will be the region’s first natural gas to protein plant and will be based on Unibio’s U-Loop® technology, where natural gas is converted through continuous fermentation into Uniprotein®. The production of Uniprotein® is highly resource-efficient and sustainable compared with the production of traditional protein, such as fish meal and soy. Relative to soy production, Uniprotein® uses 1/300th of the water and 1/25,000th of the land. With the signing of this agreement, Gulf Biotech has shown its commitment to using innovative technology and Qatar’s natural resources to tackle the highly pressing challenge of producing sustainable food for the world’s rapidly growing population. Henrik Busch-Larsen, CEO of Unibio states: “The abundance of natural gas in Qatar makes the country an obvious choice for the production of Uniprotein®. We are delighted to be partnering with Gulf Biotech who are visionary, ambitious, and open to new technologies. Together, we can help address one of Qatar’s and the world’s major challenges and sustainably feed the world’s growing population. We look forward to bringing our partnership to the next phase where we will plan the engineering and construction of the new plant.” Hitmi Al-Hitmi, Founder of Gulf Biotech, said: “As the world seeks to feed its ever-growing population in an environmentally sustainable manner, the opportunity for us to produce protein-based on the fermentation of natural gas in Qatar is highly important. We see enormous potential for the future sustainable development of our business in Qatar and beyond.”