SoluPro™ was discovered as a result of the lime pre-treatment process developed for Terrabon's MixAlco® technology.
Protein bearing materials, such as chicken feathers, shrimp heads, offal, soy hay and wet and dry distillers grain, are cooked in the presence of lime. Under these alkaline conditions, the proteins are hydrolyzed, or broken down into their component amino acids, and become soluble, permitting their extraction.
Using the same dewatering technology employed in MixAlco®, this protein hydrolyzate is concentrated into a consistency resembling syrup. The protein syrup, which has binding properties, may then be turned into pellets and can be used in animal rations or further processed into a bio-adhesive. Terrabon is conducting research for using this protein syrup as a thermoset adhesive in replacing conventional phenol-formaldehyde based adhesives.