55-651: The Billingham Manufacturing Plant is a large chemical works based in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees , England. In agricultural terms, it is one of the most important factories in Britain. Ammonia had first been made in Germany in 1913 by BASF at Oppau, near Ludwigshafen (the plant was destroyed in 1921 by the Oppau explosion ). Ammonium compounds are used not only for fertilisers, but also explosives. Billingham-on-Tees
110-542: A binder instead of egg albumen, to confer vegan status. According to Quorn's website, by 2020, a number of Quorn items were available in United States markets, many of which are vegan. They also have gluten-free options. As of 2014, it was reported that most consumers of Quorn are meat eaters rather than vegetarians . The market for Quorn products is increasing worldwide and the company expects further growth. Originally conceived in 1985 and owned by Marlow Foods,
165-457: A binder. It is then textured, giving it some of the grained character of meat, and pressed into a mince resembling ground beef; forms resembling chicken breasts, meatballs, and turkey roasts; or chunks resembling diced chicken breast. In these forms, Quorn has a varying colour and a mild flavour resembling the imitated meat product, and is suitable for use as a replacement for meat in many dishes, such as stews and casseroles. The final Quorn product
220-505: A highly energy-thirsty process, by converting it to ammonia via the Haber process , also known as the Haber–Bosch process. From ammonia, the vast majority of fertilisers are made, leading to protein formation in plants and then animals. Naturally occurring sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate are also used in fertilisers. Stockton-on-Tees (borough) The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees
275-540: A joint venture between Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), RHM exited the business in 1990 by selling its shares to ICI. When ICI spun off its biological products divisions from the core chemical business in 1993, Marlow Foods became a part of the newly formed Zeneca group, later AstraZeneca . In 2003, AstraZeneca sold Marlow Foods, including the Quorn business and associated trademarks and patents, to Montagu Private Equity for £72m. Montagu sold
330-554: A line of vegan products for the UK market, as well as reducing its use of eggs overall, using 3.5 million fewer eggs since 2010. The first range of vegan Quorn in the UK included eight products and was launched in October 2015. In January 2019, Quorn produced the filling for a vegan sausage roll sold by UK bakery chain Greggs . The product was consistently sold out, and was identified by
385-478: A lower cost. Huge related costs include £30m cost for a fermentation tower and related equipment, so you can't simply look at a patent and say 'there you go'." In late 2011, the first vegan Quorn product was released, called the Quorn Vegan Burger, available initially only in the United States. Following strong sales of the product and increasing demand from the UK market, Quorn began development of
440-522: A much higher intolerance level than Quorn. Adverse reactions were reported for 1 in 146,000 people who ate Quorn, compared to 1 in 35 who ate shellfish and 1 in 350 who ate soya. In the European Union, patents expire after 20 years from their filing date. Since the first patent application was filed in 1985, the mycoprotein patents had already expired in 2010 in all European Union countries. Now anyone can legally produce mycoprotein products using
495-398: A number too low to represent using the number of digits supplied rather than a lack of those who identified as that specific idea] The council maintains a number of local nature reserves including Barwick Pond, Charlton's Pond, Greenvale, Hardwick Dene and Elm Tree Woods, Norton Grange Marsh, Quarry Wood (Eaglescliffe), and Stillington Forest Park. County Durham: Quorn Quorn
550-454: A popular fertiliser due to its high nitrogen content and sold using the Nitram brand name. A second Nitram plant was built in the 1970s. In the 1970s, North Sea gas became available and the steam reformers at Billingham were converted from naphtha to natural gas feed. As one of the first and largest gas customers, ICI was able to negotiate a very favourable gas price which meant that the 1970s
605-591: A result of the Local Government Act 1972 . It became a non-metropolitan district of the County of Cleveland , itself established at the same time. Multiple parishes and boroughs merged into Stockton's newly formed district borough: The borough became a unitary authority on 1 April 1996. It is ceremonially split between County Durham and North Yorkshire, to the north and south of the Tees respectively. It
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#1732779964323660-649: Is a unitary authority area in England with borough status . It straddles the ceremonial counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire and had a population of 196,600 in 2021. The main settlement and namesake of the borough is Stockton-on-Tees , which lies on the north bank of the River Tees with the towns of Billingham and Norton-on-Tees . All three towns are in County Durham. The towns of Ingleby Barwick , Thornaby-on-Tees and Yarm are south of
715-502: Is a brand of meat substitute products. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 11 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin . Quorn is sold as both a cooking ingredient and as a meat substitute used in a range of prepackaged meals . Though all Quorn products offer vegetarian options, not all offer vegan options. All Quorn foods contain mycoprotein as an ingredient, which
770-514: Is derived from the Fusarium venenatum fungus. In most Quorn products, the fungus culture is dried and mixed with egg white , which acts as a binder, and then is adjusted in texture and pressed into various forms. The vegan formulation uses potato protein as a binder instead of egg white. Quorn was launched in 1985 by Marlow Foods, a joint venture between Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). Microbial biomass
825-534: Is high in protein and dietary fibre and is low in saturated fat . It contains less dietary iron than most meats and the manufacturers have not released much information about additives they use to make Quorn resemble meat. Quorn is considered acceptable in small amounts for babies over nine months old, but should be introduced gradually. The high fibre and low food energy content is better for adults than babies and too much fibre can cause flatulence. The salt content should be checked before giving Quorn to babies, since
880-416: Is produced commercially as single-cell protein (SCP) for human food or animal feed and as viable yeast cells for the baking industry. The industrial production of bakers' yeast started in the early 1900s, and yeast biomass was used as human food in Germany during World War I . The development of large-scale processes for the production of microbial biomass as a source of commercial protein began in earnest in
935-720: Is the only council in England to be split between two ceremonial counties . The former districts and boroughs of Durham now form the unitary authority of County Durham , so ceremonial County Durham now has four unitary authorities . The Office for National Statistics has published a chart (pp. 240–253) of the trend of regional gross value of Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees (figures in Sterling [millions]). ^1 includes hunting and forestry. ^2 includes energy and construction. ^3 includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured. ^4 Components may not sum to totals due to rounding. In
990-471: The Minister of Munitions , Andrew Weir, 1st Baron Inverforth . The site was developed (copied) from knowledge of the ammonia plant at Oppau in Germany, and run as Synthetic Ammonia and Nitrates Limited. Other plants copied were at Sheffield, Alabama , La Grande-Paroisse , and one owned by General Chemical near New York. In December 1926, ICI was formed from the merger of Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives ,
1045-528: The Philippines for £550m ($ 831m). Quorn is made from the soil mould Fusarium venenatum strain PTA-2684 (previously misidentified as the parasitic mould Fusarium graminearum ). The fungus is grown in continually oxygenated water in large, otherwise sterile fermentation tanks. Glucose and fixed nitrogen are added as a food for the fungus, as are vitamins and minerals to improve the food value of
1100-765: The United Alkali Company and the British Dyestuffs Corporation , largely controlled by Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett , and Harry McGowan, 1st Baron McGowan . By 1932, the plant employed around 5,000 people. Aldous Huxley visited the works and this gave him the inspiration for his famous 1931 book Brave New World . From 1929 the Bergius process was developed to hydrogenate carbon (coal) and make synthetic petrol , with production starting in 1935. This would be needed for aircraft several years later. The Fischer–Tropsch process
1155-623: The Vegetarian Society gave the product its seal of approval. In 2004, McDonald's introduced a Quorn-branded burger bearing the seal of approval of the Vegetarian Society. However, as of 2009, the Quorn burgers were no longer available at any McDonald's restaurant in the UK, and the McPlant was made using Beyond Meat . In 2011, Quorn Foods launched a vegan burger into the United States market, using potato protein as
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#17327799643231210-667: The 1950s ICI developed technology to convert naphtha to hydrogen by reacting with steam over a catalyst in tubes in a furnace. Four large steam reformers were built and these significantly improved the ammonia production process. The technology was successfully licensed by ICI to many plants around the world and the associated catalyst sales became an important ICI business. In the early 1960s ICI licensed ammonia technology from M. W. Kellogg , an American engineering company who had been developing single-stream continuous ammonia processes with capacity up to 550 tonnes per day. ICI ordered 3 plants, each with capacity of 900 tonnes per day and hence
1265-483: The 1980s, the Billingham site was divided into 4 production groups - Ammonia Works (ammonia and methanol), Products Works (nitric acid and Nitram as well as other acids used to make compound "NPK" fertiliser), Oil Works and Cassel Works (whose main product is methyl methacrylate monomer, the precursor of Perspex). In the early 1980s, British musician Eric Woolfson paid a visit to the factory having been invited by
1320-596: The 1990s the 3 LP ammonia plants were retired, along with the first Nitram plant and associated acid plants. This was mostly due to pressure of low-price competition from regions of the world with much lower costs of natural gas feed. The methanol production also stopped a little later for similar reasons. In 1997 ICI sold the fertiliser production plants an Billingham and those at a similar, but smaller, production site at Severnside near Bristol to Terra for $ 340 million. In 1999 ICI sold Cassel Works to Ineos and it subsequently became Lucite International. In 2002 ICI sold
1375-440: The 1990s. In the 1960s ICI developed new catalysts that would allow the production of methanol at much lower pressures than previously used. This led to ICI building the world's first Low Pressure methanol at Billingham in 1966, in a plant making 600 tonnes per day of methanol at only 50 bar and using hydrogen from the old steam reformer plants (which were no longer needed for ammonia production). A second and larger methanol plant
1430-425: The 2021 census, the borough was recorded as having a population of 196,595 with 50.9% being female. For sexuality, those who identified as Straight or Heterosexual were 91.6%, Gay or Lesbian were 1.4%, Bisexual was 0.9%, Pansexual was 0.2%, Asexual was 0.0%, Queer was 0.0, 'All other sexual orientations' were 0.0% and those who did not answer were 5.9%. [Note, for percentages with 0.0%, this may due to
1485-531: The A1046 in the south-east of Billingham, close to the bank of the River Tees . The A19 runs nearby to the west. Natural gas is supplied at between 45 and 65 bar . The site uses around 1% of the UK's natural gas. Electricity used to come from its own power station and also from the former North Tees Power Station (which closed in 1983), but is now supplied from the National Grid. It fixates nitrogen ,
1540-651: The UK's only other ammonium nitrate plant (in Cheshire) and the joint business used the Growhow name. In 2007 Yara , a Norwegian-based fertiliser company, took a controlling interest in Kemira Growhow. In 2010 CF Industries bought a 50% share of Growhow and in 2015 bought the remaining 50% from Yara. GrowHow was rebranded to CF Fertilisers in November 2015. It is sandwiched between Belasis Avenue (B1275) and
1595-546: The UK, with annual sales of around £95 million. By 2006, it was available in stores in the UK; Europe (Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland); and North America (Canada and United States). Since June 2010, it has been available in Australia. In May 2012, Quorn Foods opened the German website quorn.de to relaunch Quorn in Germany. After its producer switched to using free-range eggs as an ingredient,
1650-523: The Vegetarian Society's seal of approval. An asthma attack in 2003 was linked to Quorn. Tests showed Quorn to be the only food to which the patient had an allergic reaction. A spokesperson for the Food Standards Agency stated that an allergy was not surprising, due to the high protein content. Former FSA director Jon Bell responded in defence of Quorn, stating that several commonly consumed foods and food ingredients, such as soya , have
1705-511: The business on to Premier Foods in 2005 for £172m. In 2011, Premier Foods sold Quorn to Exponent Private Equity and Intermediate Capital Group for £205 million . In 2015, the owners put the company up for sale via a business auction process. Attracting bidders including Danone , Kerry Group , McCain Foods and Nomad Foods , it was sold to Monde Nissin Corporation headquartered in
Billingham Manufacturing Plant - Misplaced Pages Continue
1760-582: The catalyst and technology licensing business that was headquartered at Billingham to Johnson Matthey for £267 million. In the Second World War, atomic research also took place on the site, under the codename Tube Alloys , whereby uranium hexafluoride was made. Plastics were also made on the site from 1934, which were used in the construction of aircraft cockpits . The plant also made explosives, as synthetically originated nitrogen compounds (such as trinitrotoluene ) all derive from ammonia, due to
1815-417: The company appointed Mo Farah as its ambassador in a marketing push for fitness. Quorn is sold in ready-to-cook forms, such as cubes and a form resembling minced meat . The company later introduced a range of chilled vegetarian meals, including pizzas, lasagne, cottage pie, and products resembling sliced meat, hot dogs, and burgers. By 2005, Quorn enjoyed around 60% of the meat-replacement food market in
1870-509: The conversion of the coal synthesis gas to fuel. These catalysts were made in Clitheroe in a plant set up by the government as a shadow factory. Clitheroe was chosen for being in a part of the UK with the most cloud cover, which could help protect against German bombers. The ammonia produced at Billingham used coal as the feedstock for many years. The coal-based process was complex and inefficient with many safety and environmental issues. In
1925-585: The east of the borough. Teesside International Airport is shared between the borough and the Borough of Darlington . Stockton previously held borough status as the Municipal Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in historic County Durham. In 1968, the borough was merged into Teesside County Borough ; this civil parish was a part of the ceremonial (not administrative) North Riding county until its abolition. The town regained borough status on 1 April 1974 as
1980-514: The figure, claiming that only 0.0007% (1 in 146,000) suffer adverse reactions and that the strain of fungus it uses does not produce toxins. Leslie Bonci, professor of nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh , described CSPI's claims as "overblown". Wendy Preiser, Gardenburger's vice president of marketing, said the company feared that Quorn's labels would cause suspicion about all meat-free products. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority
2035-490: The immense energetic difficulty in splitting bonds in the nitrogen molecule. A TRIGA nuclear reactor was developed on the site from 1971 to 1988. Tracerco was developed from this operation, and ICI's Physics and Radioisotope Services. The plant was sold by ICI to Terra Nitrogen (UK), part of the Terra Nitrogen Company , in 1997. Terra formed a joint venture in 2006 with Kemira Growhow , who operated
2090-461: The late 1960s. Several of the processes investigated did not come to fruition owing to political and economic problems, but the establishment of the ICI Pruteen process for the production of bacterial SCP for animal feed was a milestone in the development of the fermentation industry. This process used continuous culture on a large scale 1,500 m (53,000 cu ft). The economics of
2145-705: The original labeling of Quorn as a "mushroom based" product, since Fusarium venenatum is not a mushroom (rather, it is a microfungus ). The sale of Quorn was opposed by the American Mushroom Institute , and rival Gardenburger , which filed complaints with advertising and trading-standards watchdogs in Europe and the US, stating Quorn's 'mushroom based' claim was deceptive. CSPI claimed that Quorn could cause allergic reactions and should be removed from stores. CSPI claimed in 2003 that it "sickens 4.5% of eaters". The manufacturer (Marlow Foods) disputed
2200-473: The previously patented processes. However, they would have to use other brand names as Marlow Foods maintains ownership of the Quorn brand name. On 14 March 2011, CEO Kevin Brennan said in an interview: "Some patents surrounding the core technology have expired, but the product uses a peculiar fermentation method, and we have 30-plus years' experience in perfecting this on site to produce the product better and at
2255-672: The product was taken from a trademark owned by RHM. This trademark was previously used for a range of instant food packets named after the Quorn Hunt , which in turn derives from the Leicestershire village of Quorn . Quorn entered distribution in the UK in 1993, and it was introduced to other parts of Europe in the 1990s, and to North America in 2002. The initial advertising campaign for Quorn featured sports personalities, including footballer Ryan Giggs , rugby player Will Carling , and Olympic runner Sally Gunnell . In 2013,
Billingham Manufacturing Plant - Misplaced Pages Continue
2310-430: The product. The resulting mycoprotein is then extracted and heat-treated to remove excess levels of RNA . Previous attempts to produce such fermented protein foodstuffs were thwarted by excessive levels of DNA or RNA; without the heat treatment, purines , found in nucleic acids , are metabolised by humans to produce uric acid , which can lead to gout . The product is dried and mixed with egg albumen , which acts as
2365-470: The production of SCP as animal feed were marginal, which eventually led to the discontinuation of the Pruteen process. The technical expertise gained from the Pruteen process assisted ICI in collaborating with company Rank Hovis McDougall on a process for the production of fungal biomass for human food. A continuous fermentation process for the production of Fusarium venenatum biomass (marketed as Quorn)
2420-480: The river in North Yorkshire. The borough governed by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council . The borough is part of Tees Valley with nearby boroughs of Darlington , Middlesbrough , Redcar and Cleveland and Hartlepool . All River Tees bridges from Yarm Viaduct to Transporter Bridge are in the borough at least on one side, with the Borough of Middlesbrough to the south downstream on the other side to
2475-666: The salt content varies among products. The carbon footprint of Quorn Frozen Mince in the UK is claimed to be at least 80% less than that of beef. Quorn for the UK and European market is produced at Marlow's headquarters in Stokesley , North Yorkshire and at nearby Billingham in Stockton-on-Tees . After Quorn's 2002 debut in the United States, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) disputed
2530-466: The then ICI chairman John Harvey-Jones . The first thing Woolfson saw was a kind of street full of pipes where nobody worked, with a sign which said Ammonia Avenue . It would end up being photographed for the front cover for The Alan Parsons Project 's seventh studio album , which was also named after the place. The last major investment at Billingham was a large nitric acid plant with a capacity of 1000 tonnes per day that started operation in 1985. In
2585-449: The world's largest. The new Kellogg technology synthesised ammonia at only 150 bar, about half that used in other processes, resulting in greatly improved energy efficiency. The new plants took some time to overcome teething problems with the new technology but eventually became the key part of the factory, which for many years was the world's largest ammonia production site. The Kellogg Low Pressure ammonia plants were eventually retired in
2640-437: Was a period of high profitability for the site. A fourth large ammonia plant was built in the mid 1970s, with a capacity of 1500 tonnes per day. Ammonia 4 was designed with improved efficiency and reliability and is still operating in the 2020s. In the late 1970s, ICI developed a fermentation process that converted methanol to artificial protein called Pruteen , intended to be used as animal feed. A commercial production unit
2695-536: Was a small village in 1917, when its Grange Farm was chosen to be the site of a large chemical works. On 22 March 1918, the Minister of Munitions approved the site to be developed as a factory that would make ammonium nitrate . It was initially known as the Government Nitrogen Factory – it fixed atmospheric nitrogen. Brunner Mond took over the works on 22 April 1920, in an agreement with
2750-401: Was built in 1971. The methanol technology was licensed to more than 100 other companies (in conjunction with sales of ICI catalyst made at Clitheroe) and for many years more than half of the world's methanol was made with ICI technology and catalysts. In the late 1960s, a plant was built to convert ammonia and nitric acid (made at Billingham from ammonia in separate plants) to ammonium nitrate,
2805-427: Was built on Belasis Avenue, a short distance to the main Billingham site. The start of the new plant coincided with increases in gas and methanol prices and a drop in the cost of competing animal feeds which made commercial success difficult for the new plant. Further development work enabled the artificial protein to be used for human consumption using the brand name Quorn . ICI sold its interest in Quorn in 1993. By
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#17327799643232860-534: Was concerned that Marlow's marketing of Quorn as "mushroom in origin" was "misleading consumers". Marlow Foods were asked either to delete the claim or modify it to identify its fungal origin. Quorn formerly used battery eggs in some of its production processes, a practice opposed on ethical grounds by many vegetarians. Working with the Vegetarian Society, which initially did not approve Quorn's products, Marlow began phasing out battery eggs in 2000, and by 2004 all of their UK products were free of battery eggs, earning
2915-409: Was developed using a 40 m (1,400 cu ft) air-lift fermenter. During the 1960s, it was predicted that by the 1980s there would be a shortage of protein-rich foods. The filamentous fungus, Fusarium venenatum , was discovered in a soil sample in 1967. In 1985, RHM was given permission to sell mycoprotein for human consumption after a ten-year evaluation programme. The brand Quorn
2970-472: Was first marketed in 1985 by Marlow Foods (named after Rank Hovis McDougall's headquarters in Marlow, Buckinghamshire ), a joint venture between RHM and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), which provided a fermenter left vacant from their abandoned single-cell feed programme. The two partners invested in patents for growing and processing the fungus, and other intellectual properties in the brand. The name of
3025-537: Was used by the Germans during the war to produce synthetic fuel from coal. The RAF's high-performance aircraft needed 100-octane fuel , which was only obtainable from hydrogenated fuels, such as that made at Billingham. Another synthetic fuel ( iso-octane ) plant at Heysham in Lancashire was built in 1941, where it was thought safer. The synthetic fuel processes at Billingham and Heysham both relied on catalysts for
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