Karl Greden
Product and Process Development, Apparo
Karl is head of product and process development at Apparo. He has been working in the protein ingredients business for 9 years, previously as part of the team that developed a novel process to extract and purify protein from brewer’s grains. As a co-founder of Apparo, a company focused on creating protein and other food ingredients from underutilized plant feedstocks, he has developed a process for extracting and isolating sunflower protein fractions. His background is in chemical and environmental engineering, and he has spent his career focusing on innovations in reducing waste and upcycling materials.
The demand for more and varied plant protein sources is growing. The supply of underutilized plant protein sources is also growing. How can membrane processing help bring these proteins to market? What challenges arise when attempting to do so? We will attempt to answer these two questions by focusing on two case studies, one involving native proteins and the other involving hydrolyzed proteins. We will also focus on what comes next, what challenges await in scaling, and what will accelerate the development of these processes and plant protein products, from one researcher’s perspective.