Production of Leaf Protein Concentrates LPC

period, protein production amounted to 3000–4000 kgha, and in other tem- perature zones of the world tropical zones yields of 8000–10,000 kgha protein
may be attained 10–15 times as high as protein yields obtained from fodder products Table 2.
Leaf protein obtained from a unit area gives the highest amounts of protein as well as most favorable results in essential amino acid yields, which would
also make it profitable producing plants so-far not cultivated e.g., Atriplex, Tetragonia, Amaranthus, etc..
Fig. 2. Versatile Vepex LPC process
Table 2. Yield of fodder plants harvested as cereals or herbage crops per hectare based on
Hungarian experimental results Plants
Average yield Dry matter
Raw protein Lysin Methionin
Tonhectare Tonhectare Kghectare
Kghectare Kghectare Cereal fodder
Corn 8.0
7.0 720
22.5 15.2
Soybeans 2.5
2.2 820
58.7 13.0
Herbage crops Alfalfa
49.9 12.7
2273 121.0
25.6 Autumn wheat
41.9 6.7
960 63.4
14.3 Field kale
40.1 4.3
720 60.8
7.3 Mixture of oats
30.0 6.3
886 45.3
10.0 and vetches
For leaf-protein tech- –
20.0 90.0
180.0 40.0
nology with continuous green plant supply
in approx. 200 days
Characteristic products obtained by the procedure are [8]: – chloroplast protein fraction with amino acid content similar to that of soybean
protein, applicable also as a substitute for extracted soy-bean meal or fish meal – cytoplasm protein fraction applicable as a substitute for fish meal or milk
protein, and, in the long run, also in human nutrition – fodder yeast
– syrup concentrate used mainly as a supplement for fibrous residue – green meal or pellets fibrous fraction applied as fodder meal
Carotene- and xanthophil-coupled protein also play an important role in leaf protein production. Experts show growing interest in these coloring materials
and then it is up to the customer to decide whether protein content or the color- ing material is the decisive factor in evaluating the end-product.

4.2 Joint Production of Iso-Sugar HFCS and Alcohol from Corn

Hungary – as a typical corn-belt country with significant yields of corn produc- tion – is naturally interested in expanding and economizing large-scale industrial
application of corn. Therefore, a technology for combined iso-sugar-alcohol pro- duction has been elaborated [9].
Figure 3 presents the production scheme of the Szabadegyháza Distillery, which has been in operation since the beginning of the 1980s, processing
annually 150,000 tons of corn. In addition to starch, the following by-products are obtained: germ utilized in the vegetable oil industry, gluten for nutritional
ALC.-FREE MASH
FILTER CAKE
MAIN PLANT
CRUDE STARCH + FIBERS STEEP W ATER
PURE STARCH
MASH WE
T G
E R
M S
WE T
G L
U T
E N
DIST. SOL. FI
BERS
GERMS GLUTEN
FEED PROD. GERMS
GLUTEN PLANT
1st. CL. ALC. FUS. OIL
TECHN. ALC. HFCS
DISTILL. FEED PRODUCT
DRIER SUGAR PLANT
ALCOHOL PLANT EVAPORATION
PLANT STARCH PLANT
BROKEN MAIZE MAIZE
W HOLE KERNELS
Fig. 3.
General production scheme of the maize production complex in Szabadegyháza
purposes, and from starch: glucose and alcohol depending on the demands, and from glucose: isosyrups HFCS.

4.3 Brewing Beer with Enzymes

Brewing beer with enzymes is one of the practical applications of biotechnology realized worldwide on an industrial scale Hungary was the first to introduce the
technique industrially at the end of the 1960s [10]. In traditional brewing, malt can be replaced by unmalted cereals barley,
corn, rice, sorghum, millet, etc. or other starchy substances e.g., cassava, sago, yam- or arrow-roots by simultaneous addition of appropriate amounts of
protease and amylolytic enzymes with beta-glucanase effect. In this procedure the technology and equipment of brewing only malt is
applied. Some benefits of the method are:
– the total cost of unmalted cereals and enzymes is much lower than for malt – beer production can be increased without construction of a new malt plant
– countries dependent on malt imports may considerably reduce foreign exchange expenses by application of domestic resources and enzymes
– brewers’ barley can be substituted by higher yield, less expensive raw materials
5 Evaluation of Biotechnological Research, Development,
and Training in Hungary 1945 – 1980
The training of specific areas of biotechnology genetics, biology, microbiology, biochemistry was carried out at the universities within the scope of the depart-
ments. Research was greatly dependent on the sphere of interest of the professor and was rather modest owing to the lack of funds and instruments.
After World War II, the trend of interest turned towards genetic sciences, an independent Institute of Genetics was established, but within a few years,
B. Györffy’s “school” of western orientation was completely wiped out by mandatory Soviet doctrines Mitsurin. Those unwilling to adopt these views
were excluded from academic life. International relations shrank to a minimum and it took several years for certain scientific areas and experts with “imper-
ialistic views” to come to the forefront: these “unacceptable” ideas and results could be taught to university students only in terms of criticism.
In the field of plant biotechnology, tissue culture experiments are especially noteworthy, M. Maróti was a pioneer in education and introduction of these
methods. It should also be stated here that, prior to the micropropagation of ornamental plants, experiments in growing orchids had been carried out as early
as 1914 M. Galambos, and large-scale cultivation started only half a century later 1968 [11]. In the 1970s, worldwide acknowledged novel results were
attained in this field by the isolation of mutant cell lines and, based on this, in the reproduction of whole plants. Shortly afterwards, these methods of plant tissue