Page 182 - CW E-Magazine (27-8-2024)

Special Report

carbon atoms are extremely com- bioethanol plants, biogas plants, cement ‘ClimateOil’ – an oil with a ‘minimal’
mon throughout the biological world. production plants, steel plants, and fos- carbon footprint produced by yeasts
Carbon is easily able to form bonds sil combustion processes could be an fed on carbon dioxide feedstock. The
with other atoms meaning that they are effective way to scale carbon-based company does not genetically modify
an indispensable component of living forms of biomanufacturing as it would their yeasts but bioprospects existing
cells, including their proteins, nucleic place them next to abundant and largely strains by trawling through organic
acids (including DNA), carbohydrates, zero-value industrial carbon emissions. sidestreams. Colipi’s oil so far has ap-
and lipids. plications in the cosmetics and home
In 2022, Lanzatech and Danone suc- care industries. However, the company
Carbon is a highly sustainable feed- cessfully converted carbon emissions is now trying to replace harvested palm
stock for industrial microbes as well as captured from industrial processes into oil with a microbially-produced substi-
having the potential to be the most eco- a PET plastic component in a proof-of- tute for normal vegetable oils.
nomical. Apart from being highly abun- concept that they say will need years of
dant, biomanufacturing plants could be development before it hits the general An alternative to palm oil, a major
designed in such a way that they draw consumer market. driver of deforestation in Southeast
down more carbon than they emit, Asia, has so far been elusive. Yet if
resulting in industries that offer a net While developments like this are Colipi cracks the problem, it will be a
removal of climate-warming carbon promising, the industry should be wary breakthrough in demonstrating how
from the atmosphere. of becoming a carbon-cleanup tool that carbon-fed microbes could replace
fossil-based producers use to justify busi- environmentally destructive food indus-
Renewables-powered microbial fac- ness models based around petroleum. try staples.
tories that draw on carbon dioxide as
feedstock may just be the holy grail of One fi rm already commercialising [Source: https://worldbiomarketinsights.
bioeconomy innovations. Co-locating this method is Colipi, a Hamburg-based com/the-most-sustainable-feedstocks-for-
precision fermentation capacity next to startup. Already the company makes precision-fermentation/]

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182 Chemical Weekly August 27, 2024

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