LanzaTech’s gas fermentation process, uses CO2 as feedstock from industrial emissions or seawater, “avoiding the need for sugar- or crop-based inputs,” which can compete with food ingredients and potentially increase costs, Zara Summers, chief science officer, LanzaTech, told FoodNavigator-USA.
The company uses its own bioreactor technology at an industrial scale rather than relying on organic growth and batch processing as seen in “various mycelial production pathways,” she said.
LanzaTech’s “production method can be scaled more efficiently and allows for continuous fermentation, reducing the environmental footprint and potentially lowering production costs as facilities scale up,” Summers said. The company projects a production of LNP at 80 metric tons a day. For instance, producing 0.5 metric tons of LNP provides enough protein to meet the complete daily intake of around 9,000 people while using less than 10 acres of land and minimal water, according to the company.
The company anticipates technical hurdles like “maintaining the efficiency and productivity of the gas fermentation process at scale, ensuring consistent supply chains for feedstock (CO2 and hydrogen), and building distributed manufacturing facilities,” Summers said.