ICI Exhibition Booklet - Flipbook - Page 14
Entrepreneurship in agriscience
‘What to do for an encore’
– Dr Peter King, ICI Agricultural Division 1967
Pruteen – a protein gap
In the UK, it is hard to ignore the prevalence of ‘Quorn’. The myco-protein, produced by Fusarium venenatum, was launched
by ICI and Rank Hovis McDougall in 1985. Its inception owed a great deal to the work done by ICI’s Dr Peter King.
In the 1970s, the EEC was spending £50 million a year on feedstocks. Dr
King started looking for a suitable single-celled protein (SCP) that could
break down natural gas to create ‘a scientifically-produced animal nutrition
product’.
After ‘searching the world for micro-organisims that would grow on
methane’, Dr King consulted Professor Roderick Quayle, at the University
of Sheffield. The information that SCP transformed methane into methanol
before digestion provided the breakthough.
Quorn mycoprotein, source: http://althealthworks.com/9448/you-are-eating-mold-vegan-company-lies-to-theconsumers-new-lawsuit-allegesyelena/
Methylophilus methlotrophus was chosen for study. Named ‘Pruteen’, it
was tested on 250,000 animals with no harmful effects.
A £40 million plant was built at Teesside to meet the assumed demand. Pruteen did quietly settle down into its own niche as
a substitute skim milk powder for young pigs and calves but the economics of the time and British entry into the EEC, which
effectively raised cereal prices, meant the percieved ‘protein gap’ did not materialise.
‘Pruteen was a technological triuimph but perhaps the fundamental lesson the industrial researcher has to learn is
that there is no straight line between excellent technology and profit’
- Dr Peter Doyle, ICI Board Director 1989
Electrodyn – more efficient crop protection
In the 1970s, spraying crop protection chemicals was often very imprecise,
especially when the target pests and diseases were hidden in the crop leaf
canopy. While seeking technical help from ICI’s Plant Protection Division,
Dr Ron Coffee, who had two patents on inventions for ‘spraying concerned
with solid state particles’, was approached by Jealotts Hill Research Director,
Dr Braunholtz, with an offer of £1,000 for a two year deal for exclusive
rights to his patents, urging him to adapt the science to liquids.
From here, electrodyn was quickly developed,with a perfect droplet size
that could be controlled electrostatically. Electrodyn sprays boasted a 60%
increase in cotton yields in Zambia soon after its 1984 launch. However, its
anticipated widespread use in the chemical industry did not come about.
‘Electrodyn is perhaps the classic example of a technology in search
of a marketplace’
– Dr Peter Doyle, ICI Board Director 1989
1995 patent; Electrodyne by Dr Ron Coffee
Dr Peter King was SCI General Secretary between 1982–89.
Dr Alan Hayes CBE was Chairman of the Plant Protection Division of ICI
between 1979–1992, with responsibility for all
areas of Research and Development, Production, Distribution, Marketing
and Sales worldwide. Dr Hayes was also instrumental in founding ICI’s
entry into the Seeds Business and the expansion of its bioscience research.
Dr Hayes received a CBE in 1992 and served as SCI President from 1994–96.