Calysta and Adisseo partnership plans to build alternative protein facility in Saudi Arabia

Calysseo, Calysta and Adisseo joint venture, announced its plan to build a major alternative protein facility in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in partnership with Food Caravan. Advanced discussions underway to build site five times the size of maiden FeedKind fermenter in China.

Calysta and Adisseo partnership plans to build alternative protein facility in Saudi ArabiaCalysseo, a joint venture between world-leading alternative protein company Calysta and worldwide animal nutrition leader Adisseo, has announced it intends to build an alternative protein facility in Al Jubail in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in partnership with Food Caravan.

Advanced discussions and detailed planning are underway between the partners, who have formalised their intent to move forward with a development in the country. The partnership is aiming to build a 100,000 tonne-capacity fermenter in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to produce Calysta’s novel protein ingredients, which require no animal or plant ingredients to produce. It is hoped the facility could become operational by the end of 2026, pending necessary construction and approvals.

Confirmation over the intent to build comes after Calysseo announced it has successfully switched on its maiden 20,000 tonne fermenter in China, which will produce FeedKind® Aqua protein for the aquaculture market. The KSA facility would be five times the size of the current Chinese fermenter.

AN IMPORTANT STEP ON DELIVERING ENOUGH SUSTAINABLE PROTEIN…
“Our mission is to help the world meet one of its most pressing goals – feeding a global population that’s set to hit 10 billion by 2050. To do that, we need more sustainable protein, and to produce protein in places we are not currently able to. That’s what’s so exciting about the possibility of a Calysseo facility in KSA,” said Alan Shaw, CEO, President, and co-founder of Calysta. “This would be our second industrial-scale plant and an important step on delivering enough sustainable protein to meet growing and pressing global demand. Our patented fermentation technology is proven to produce a high-quality protein ingredient and thanks to the efficiencies of using a naturally occurring bacteria process, we are ready to rapidly scale up and meet that demand.”

SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE
“Today’s announcement is another significant milestone as we quickly move towards more sustainable forms of producing protein. Calysseo is something we’re incredibly proud of, we’re committed to building on this valuable partnership with Calysta as we focus on bringing the next phase of development forward,” said Jean-Marc Dublanc, CEO of Adisseo, part of the Sinochem Group. “Together with Calysta, we share an ongoing commitment to improving the security and sustainability of the feed ingredient market, our facilities fulfil a considerable part of that promise.”

A gas allocation from the Kingdom’s Ministry of Energy has been received and a site has been nominated by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. The project is being supported by the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia and the National Industrial Development Centre.

Dennis Leong, Co-Managing Director of Calysseo, said“The Kingdom as a protein producer is a paradigm shift for the world. We’re excited to progress plans to move forward with our second Calysseo facility, so soon after announcing start up activities at our Chongqing factory in China. Another milestone is exciting, expanding a new era of food and feed security.

THIS PROJECT COMES IN FULL ALIGNMENT WITH THE SAUDI 2030 VISION
Saleh Al-Shabnan, CEO of Food Caravan, added“From a national perspective, this project comes in full alignment with the Saudi 2030 vision. It also complements the Kingdom’s initiatives to ensure food security, reduce global emissions, create jobs for Saudi nationals and bring advanced technology to the Kingdom. Not to mention it’s a disruptive solution to the food supply chain globally.”