SIIG and Unibio plan world’s largest single-cell protein plant in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) and biotechnology company Unibio International PLC have announced plans to build what they describe as the world’s largest single-cell protein production facility in Saudi Arabia, marking a major step in the Kingdom’s efforts to strengthen food security and expand industrial biotechnology.

• SIIG and Unibio formed an 80:20 joint venture to build a single-cell protein plant in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, initially producing 50,000 tons annually with plans to expand capacity beyond 300,000 tons.
• The facility will use Unibio’s vertical loop bioreactor technology to convert methane from natural gas into Uniprotein, a microbial protein designed primarily for aquafeed and other animal feed applications.
• Construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2026 with commercial production targeted for 2028 following completion of engineering work, regulatory approvals and final investment decisions.

The companies will develop the facility through a joint venture in which SIIG will hold an 80% stake and Unibio 20%. The plant will be located in the industrial city of Al Jubail and will initially produce 50,000 tons of protein annually, with plans to increase capacity to more than 300,000 tons in the coming years.

The project builds on an earlier investment by SIIG, which invested US$70 million in Unibio in 2023. That investment laid the foundation for the partnership that has now progressed into a formal joint venture agreement.

The facility will deploy Unibio’s proprietary U-loop vertical bioreactor, a continuous fermentation system designed to convert methane into microbial biomass. In this process, naturally occurring microorganisms grow on methane as a carbon and energy source, producing a high-protein microbial ingredient marketed as Uniprotein®.

Natural gas will serve as the primary feedstock for the plant, making Saudi Arabia an attractive location due to its abundant methane resources and industrial infrastructure.

David Henstrom, Chief Executive Officer of Unibio, said the company had already demonstrated the technology at multiple scales before moving toward a facility of this size.

“The good thing is we have already scaled up through pilot, demo and initial commercial scale plant – that is 6,000 tons per year,” he said. “This just requires applying all of our learnings and then building more modules of fermentation capacity with a larger downstream.”

Methane-to-protein fermentation has existed conceptually for decades, but a combination of economic and market factors has shifted the commercial outlook for projects at industrial scale.

Henstrom said access to competitively priced feedstocks and utilities, along with shifting demand dynamics in aquaculture, had helped make the timing viable.

“Accessing cost competitive raw materials, locating in an industrial zone with access to cost effective utilities, and market dynamics have made the time right for our Uniprotein,” he said.

“Customers are actively looking for cost effective and scalable alternatives to limited sources of fishmeal. In addition, the food security pull in the Middle East, and more specifically Saudi Arabia’s commitment in their Vision 2030 to drive more production of aquaculture in the Kingdom, has provided great tailwinds.”

The resulting ingredient, Uniprotein, is designed primarily for animal feed applications. The microbial protein contains more than 70% protein on a dry matter basis and offers an amino acid profile similar to fishmeal, a key protein source widely used in aquaculture diets.

Fishmeal production has remained relatively constrained due to pressure on wild fisheries, prompting feed producers to explore alternative protein ingredients that can be manufactured at scale.

Henstrom said building large facilities would allow microbial protein to become a meaningful contributor to those supply chains.

“By building out at scale, we provide a meaningful alternative to fish meal which, as you say, is very constrained and under continued pressure from overfishing,” he said.

The location of the facility in Saudi Arabia reflects both resource availability and growing regional demand for aquaculture feed.

“Cost effective access to abundant amounts of natural gas and other raw materials coupled with significant, growing demand in the region for the final product have been some of the elements making Saudi Arabia a unique location to site production,” Henstrom said.

“Other areas, including North America, are intriguing for future site locations for Uniprotein production.”

Natural gas will serve as the methane source for the fermentation process in the Saudi plant. While some critics have argued that alternative protein systems should move away from fossil-derived inputs, Henstrom said the technology itself can operate on any methane source.

“Uniprotein can be made from any source of methane,” he said. “For example, in Denmark we use biomethane in our demonstration facility because it is abundant.”

“In this instance, turning natural gas into feed is an elegant use of an abundant resource to produce feed for a feed insecure region of the world.”

At full capacity, the facility could produce more than 300,000 tons of microbial protein annually. While substantial for a single plant, Henstrom said the output would still represent only a small share of global feed markets.

“As an example, the total global compound feed demand is 1.4 billion tons,” he said. “Within this, the targeted segments we are going after in the first instance is a 90 million ton segment – aquaculture, pet, and niche animal feed.”

“This targeted segment equates to around 7 million tons of protein demand today. So our 300,000 ton target in Saudi will equate to significantly less than 5% in the future, assuming no penetration of additional categories.”

For now, Unibio has focused on animal feed markets rather than human food ingredients. Henstrom said regulatory approvals and market dynamics made feed the most practical entry point for large-scale production.

“We have been focused first on feed due to early regulatory approvals, size of the market, and cost competitiveness,” he said. “We are underway with the food regulatory approval steps and anticipate good news on that front as we move forward.”

The broader ambition extends beyond a single facility. Henstrom said that if the Saudi project proves successful, additional plants could follow in regions where methane resources and market demand align.

“In the first phase rollout, yes, you will see additional plant locations based on methane in cost effective locations,” he said.

“In addition, our U-loop vertical bioreactor has substantial advantages versus traditional continuous stirred tank or airlift columns in gas fermentations. We look forward to sharing exciting news on this front in the near future.”

Looking further ahead, Henstrom said gas fermentation could become an important component of the emerging alternative protein landscape alongside plant-based and precision fermentation systems.

“When compared to plant proteins we use no arable land and much less water and can be continuously scaled out – it is just a matter of capital and time,” he said.

“With respect to precision fermentation, we have a more economic, continuous production system to produce the protein needed.”

Ultimately, he said the goal was to add resilience to global feed and food systems rather than replace existing protein sources outright.

“We are focused on bringing more resilience to the feed and food system,” Henstrom said. “Enabling microbial protein production can be a significant contributor to this resilience with the ability to produce in warm and cold climates, dispersed geographies, and the land conversion and biodiversity loss inherent in other production alternatives.”

Abdulrahman Alismail of Saudi Industrial Investment Group said the company viewed the joint venture as both a strategic investment and a long-term growth opportunity.

“We are excited to work on developing this project alongside our partner Unibio, and look forward to bringing sustainable protein production to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, our region, and the rest of the world,” he said.

“We see this as a strategic investment for our company and the long-term growth in shareholder value. Using Unibio’s technology, we aim to make Saudi Arabia the leader in single-cell protein production and improve food security for both Saudi Arabia and the world’s growing population.”

Front-end engineering design for the facility was completed last year. Construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2026 following final approvals, with commercial production targeted for 2028.