Science for business
“Producing high-grade ingredients on the farm” The Bio Product
Processor (BPP) turns arable crops into high-grade food and feed ingredients, a source of renewable energy and more income for farmers. The BPP is a small-scale biorefinery system in a sea container that can be installed in farms everywhere. Inventor Peter van der Klok aims to have at least 7,000 units in use on farms by the year 2020. Peter van der Klok has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Owner of two companies named Finn and TCE GoFour, his many innovations include precisionengineered parts for the military, the space program, the biomedical industry and, last but not least, clap skates. Some five years ago, he started working on the Bio Product Processor. “Back then, the buzzword was ‘biobased economy’,” said Van der Klok. “So we introduced a new technology based on a simple principle: bioprocessing organic material into biofuel and high-grade food and feed ingredients.” It took years of testing, researching, developing the right enzymes and finding the right business partners, but now the first BPPs are being built and put to use.
From fish waste to oilseed rape
How did Van der Klok hit upon the idea? It started with a plan to extract biofuel from animal waste. “I was triggered when I saw the tons and tons of animal offal produced in the fishing and poultry industries. I knew it had to be possible to turn all that offal into energy. Through a lot of research, our business partners came up with an enzyme that enabled us to turn fish offal into biofuel. But ultimately the fish processing industry was not convinced of the benefits. So we turned our attention to the BPP, a small-scale bioprocessor in a sea
Oilseed rape can be converted into biodiesel and high-grade food ingredients in an ingenious process invented by TCE GoFour. The inventors foresee a great impact on the agro-food industry and protein production.