Fermentation-derived tagatose production for food and agriculture
Galaxy Biosolutions AB offers a fermentation-based technology to produce tagatose from cheese whey, benefiting the food and agriculture sectors with a low glycemic sweetener and bio-based fungicide. This scalable process valorizes dairy side-streams and supports sustainable practices.
Overview
Galaxy Biosolutions AB presents an innovative fermentation-based technology that converts lactose found in cheese whey into tagatose, a high-value rare sugar. Tagatose is gaining popularity in the food industry due to its low glycemic index, low calorie content, and tooth-friendliness. Additionally, it shows promise as a bio-based fungicide, particularly appealing to the organic agriculture sector. This dual application not only opens new market segments but also meets strong regulatory and consumer demands for sustainable solutions.
Technical specifications
The technology utilizes a proprietary fermentation process where lactose is converted to tagatose, which is then secreted by yeast directly outside the cell. This secretion simplifies downstream processing and enhances operational efficiency. The process also incorporates the conversion of residual biomass into biogas, ensuring a circular and cost-effective production cycle. The technology has been successfully demonstrated at a 2L lab scale, using various whey inputs and demonstrates potential for further optimization in larger bioreactors.
Technology readiness level
The technology is currently at a TRL 4, indicating that it has been validated in a laboratory environment. Future plans include optimizing the fermentation process and scaling up production to 30L and 100L bioreactors in collaboration with a contract manufacturing organization. This will help refine key parameters and validate downstream processing protocols.
About Galaxy Biosolutions AB
Galaxy Biosolutions is a Swedish biotechnology company that specializes in precision fermentation to create sustainable food ingredients and fine chemicals. Founded in 2023 by a team from Chalmers University of Technology, the firm leverages unconventional, non-conventional yeast strains and advanced genetic tools. By engineering these microbes, the company aims to optimize fermentation processes, replacing high-energy chemical methods with more sustainable alternatives that can utilize biowaste from the dairy industry, such as whey, as a feedstock.
The company's primary focus is the development of next-generation sweeteners, such as tagatose, intended to serve as direct, sustainable replacements for sugar in various food products. This technology addresses both the global demand for cost-effective, high-quality sweeteners and the environmental challenge of managing dairy by-products. By transforming agricultural waste into high-value ingredients, Galaxy Biosolutions provides a circular solution that reduces environmental impact while offering scalable biotechnological innovations for the food and pharmaceutical industries.
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