Summary: On 19 April, the EI report of Longjiang Fufeng's 4,000 t/a amino acid fermentation medium project was accepted and publicised.

On 19 April, the Qiqihar Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau accepted and publicised the environmental impact (EI) report of Qiqihar Longjiang Fufeng Biotechnologies Co., Ltd. (Longjiang Fufeng)'s 4,000 t/a amino acid fermentation medium project.

Project background

Longjiang Fufeng has been selling the mother liquor obtained after the crystallisation of glucose to the recycling companies in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as it is unable to make use of this by-product. But this by-product has a relatively low economic benefit as the price is not very high in recent years due to market factors. After doing research at home and abroad, Longjiang Fufeng decided to build a production line that produces yeast extract from the glucose mother liquor. This project not only helps Longjiang Fufeng make good use of this by-product but also increases the economic benefit as the price of yeast extract is high due to the great demand.

Overview of amino acid fermentation medium project:

• Construction nature: Expansion and retrofitting
• Location: Dawufuma Industrial Park, Ang'angxi District, Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province
• Total investment: USD14.48 million (RMB100 million)
• Site area: 4,200 m²
• Construction content: To build a production factory equipped with a warehouse and other production and supporting facilities in the existing factory area
• Production process & main raw and auxiliary materials: This project produces yeast extract from glucose mother liquor (by-product left after the crystallisation of glucose) and corn soaking solution. The first step is to add the nutrient solution to the raw materials for fermentation. Then, the resulting solution is separated, concentrated and dried to produce yeast extract concentrate, yeast extract powder and yeast cell walls.
• Production capacity:
• 2,357 t/a of yeast extract concentrate (1,532 t/a on a dry basis)
• 2,468 t/a of yeast extract powder (1,357 t/a on a dry basis)
• By-product: 2,800 t/a of yeast cell walls
• Additional labour quota: 74 employees
• Working system: Working around the clock, totalling 7,920 working hours or 330 workdays a year

Besides, Longjiang Fufeng is also working on its 50,000 t/a mixed feed additive amino acid project. The construction of this project was completed in Feb. 2023 and it is now in the process of the environmental protection inspection and acceptance.

This feed additive project upgraded the original decolourisation process in the crystallisation workshop to raise the purity of crystalline sugar to over 99.5% and increase the primary crystallisation rate by 15% (the production capacity of crystalline sugar remained unchanged), and built two production lines that use the waste mother liquor and protein solution produced in the built threonine production line to make mixed feed additive, each with a capacity of 25,000 t/a.

Longjiang Fufeng was established in March 2017 with a registered capital of RMB1.3 billion and has 2,100 employees. Longjiang Fufeng is now able to process 2 million tonnes of corn a year and produce 600,000 t/a of crystalline glucose, 110,000 t/a of threonine, 200,000 t/a of lysine, 90,000 t/a of corn germ, 380,000 t/a of sprayed corn bran, 130,000 t/a of corn gluten meal and 150,000 t/a of compound fertiliser.