Chemicals from thin air: gas fermentation and the future of bio-manufacturing – World Bio Market Insights

Bacteria and Gas Fermentation: A Sustainable Approach to Bio-Manufacturing

Introduction

1. Bacteria have the ability to metabolize sugars into various products, such as bread, sauerkraut, beer, and cheese.
2. Modern industrial fermentation techniques utilize microorganisms to produce biochemicals for drugs, proteins, nutraceuticals, and personal care chemicals.

The Potential of Gas Fermentation

• Fermentation currently relies on organic feedstocks like food waste, paper waste, farming waste, or plant crops.
• Gas fermentation, also known as autotrophic fermentation, offers a new approach by using carbon dioxide and other gases as feedstocks.
• By converting environmentally harmful gases into high-value chemicals, gas fermentation can contribute to climate mitigation goals and reduce the need for resource-intensive crops.

The Feedstock Problem in Fermentation

1. While fermentation is considered a sustainable manufacturing route, the source and nature of its organic feedstock pose challenges.
2. The industry primarily relies on sugarcane, sugar beet, maize, and sorghum as sugar sources, which can have negative environmental impacts.
3. Alternative options include using waste byproducts from farms as microbial feedstocks, but there are logistical and cost barriers to overcome.

Lanzatech: Leading the Way in Gas Fermentation

• Lanzatech is a prominent gas fermentation company that uses carbon monoxide to produce ethanol aviation fuels.
• The company aims to turn waste gas into fuel and has partnerships with major steel works to obtain carbon monoxide gas feedstock.
• Lanzatech is expanding its product range beyond biofuels and has successfully produced acetone and IPA using gas fermentation methods.

Other Players in Gas Fermentation

• Nottingham University’s Synthetic Biology Research Centre has given rise to startups like Deep Branch and PhaseBio, which focus on gas fermentation bio-manufacturing.
• Deep Branch produces sustainable animal feed from waste carbon dioxide gas, while PhaseBio converts industrial waste carbon dioxide into chemicals and fuels.

Commercialization Challenges

1. Scaling up gas fermentation requires improving the efficiency of carbon-eating microbes and yeasts.
2. Reactor design and optimizing mass transfer are crucial factors in increasing productivity and reducing costs.

The Uses and Abuses of Gas Fermentation

• Gas fermentation has the potential to replace petrochemicals and contribute to a greener industry.
• However, caution must be exercised to ensure it does not become a tool for carbon-based industries to justify their continued use of petrochemicals.
• Focusing on industrial chemicals rather than car fuels can enhance the carbon mitigating power of gas fermentation.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

SDGs Addressed or Connected to the Issues Highlighted in the Article:

1. SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
2. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
3. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
4. SDG 13: Climate Action
5. SDG 15: Life on Land

Specific Targets Under Those SDGs Based on the Article’s Content:

• SDG 7.2: Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
• SDG 9.4: Upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes.
• SDG 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
• SDG 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
• SDG 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity, and protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.

Indicators Mentioned or Implied in the Article:

• Percentage of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
• Investment in infrastructure and industries for sustainability.
• Resource-use efficiency in industrial processes.
• Incorporation of climate change measures in national policies and planning.
• Reduction in the degradation of natural habitats and biodiversity loss.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: worldbiomarketinsights.com

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