Lessons from the Kitchen: of LanzaTech, a Protein Shake, New Markets, and Scooby-Doo

October 02, 2024

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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) LanzaTech is back in the news with a budding venture based in manufacturing single-cell protein — usually a side product — as the main product for a new set of biorefineries they have in the pipeline. Plus, an ultra-low carbon footprint compared to business as usual. LanzaTech can reduce the carbon footprint of the food business — that’s needed, and good. It’s not strictly a protein shake, but protein is giving LanzaTech a shake, in a good way.

But, let’s look a little deeper. If an idea no matter how impossible to sustain was a good one because it was sustainable in an environmental sense, we could just all stop eating. So, we need to look for sustinence as well as sustainability.

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In this LanzaTech instance, yes, the world is replete in protein. Low-carbon, almost none of it. Decarbonization is not quite up there with hunger or thirst as a driver, but it’s in the ballpark if you have a Net Zero commit and no way to achieve it. So, this is customer-based innovation.

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In the LanzaTech example, you’ll see buried in a quote from CEO Jennifer Holmgren the following: “with our existing bioreactor technology, and our years of operating experience, we have developed a path to mass produce protein from CO2. For two years, we’ve operated a pilot facility to prepare for commercialization.” Existing, experience, scale, preparation, those are my four takeaways from that.

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In the case of LanzaTech, we are scaling a product which was a by-product, anyway. Turns out, some customers want the by-product, protein, and don’t have a use for the primary product, the fuel or chemical. It’s a diversifcation that does not disperse force — instead, the scientific team is seeking out a modification to the organism to do something it can do, but needs to do more of. The force of the scientific effort is still concentrated, scientific teams are always, always working on yield, anyways.

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Back to LanzaTech, the scientific pathway for this new market entry was laid down some eight years ago, it was on a bench, ....

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LanzaTech is expanding its biorefining platform to produce LanzaTech Nutritional Protein as the primary product. What’s that? LNP is a microbial protein that is a nutrient-rich alternative to plant and animal-based proteins. Good news from the Department of Footprints, LNP is said to use “a fraction of the land and water resources that traditional protein sources require”.

The scale-up

LanzaTech is evaluating potential sites, in collaboration with several Partners Without a Name, for the 0.5 to 1.0 MT of LNP per day, due as soon as 2026. READ MORE

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LanzaTech Expands Biorefining Platform Capabilities to Include Production of Commercial-scale Nutritional Protein Directly From CO2 (LanzaTech)
Gas fermentation co LanzaTech enters food arena: ‘We’ve developed a path to mass producing protein from CO2’ (Ag Funder News)
LanzaTech expands biorefining platform capabilities to include sustainable protein (Pet Food Processing)

Excerpt from LanzaTech: Company plans to access $1 trillion alternative protein market by commercializing primary production of nutrient-rich protein through LanzaTech’s proprietary gas fermentation process -- LanzaTech Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: LNZA) (“LanzaTech” or the “Company”), the carbon recycling company transforming waste carbon into sustainable fuels, chemicals, materials, and protein, today announced its plans to expand its biorefining platform capabilities to include operations that produce LanzaTech Nutritional Protein (“LNP”) as the primary product. LNP is a microbial protein that is a nutrient-rich alternative to plant and animal-based proteins. By using a new microbe in its proprietary gas fermentation process, LanzaTech’s biorefining platform can produce a cost-competitive protein solution that supports a resilient food supply chain. LNP production has the capability to address food security issues and be produced anywhere in the world, independent of weather extremes. Notably, the production of LNP uses a fraction of the land and water resources that traditional protein sources require.

With the development of LNP production facilities, LanzaTech will gain access to the large and growing alternative protein markets, diversifying its customer base, expanding its sources of revenue, and optimizing the value creation driven by its existing, proven platform.

“Building on the expertise of our commercially operating core gas fermentation process, LNP represents a natural expansion of our business,” said Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech. “By coupling a new microbial production strain with our existing bioreactor technology, and our years of operating experience, we have developed a path to mass produce protein from CO2. For two years, we’ve operated a pilot facility to prepare for commercialization, and in the process, we’ve partnered with leading brands and food testing organizations for rigorous analysis and prototyping of nutrition applications. We have now progressed into the engineering design phase for a 0.5 to 1.5 ton per day facility, expected to be operational in 2026, and have developed a roadmap to commercial-scale production in 2028.”

By 2050, the world population is projected to reach 10 billion people, which means an additional 250 million metric tons (“MT”) of protein will be required annually. LanzaTech is extending the power of its gas fermentation platform—which can already produce commercial scale volumes of essential ethanol for apparel, packaging, surfactants, and sustainable aviation fuel—to produce large quantities of protein without straining land and water resources or impacting biodiversity. LNP has a complete amino acid profile and no allergenicity.

LanzaTech has nearly two decades of experience biorefining carbon-rich feedstocks to produce ethanol as the primary product and protein as a co-product. Leveraging this experience, LanzaTech has developed a solution using CO2 that produces LNP as the primary product. As a leader in gas fermentation, LanzaTech is well positioned to access the $1 trillion and growing alternative protein markets with a cost-competitive product that leverages LanzaTech’s proprietary biorefining platform and that utilizes similar feedstocks to LanzaTech’s current operations.

LanzaTech is evaluating potential sites, in collaboration with several partners, for the first pre commercial facilities, planned to be operational in 2026. These facilities are expected to produce between 0.5 to 1.5 tons of LNP per day, and given the high protein content of LNP, 0.5 tons per day of LNP is roughly the equivalent of giving a typical complete daily intake of protein to approximately 9,000 people.

Commercial facilities are being designed to produce more than 30,000 MT per annum, or greater than 80 MT per day, with the first of these facilities expected to be operational during 2028.

LanzaTech is in the process of completing trials and testing in animal feed and pet food, and is underway with completing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Generally Recognized as Safe (“GRAS”) certification process for LNP’s use in human nutrition formulations.

The Center for Aquaculture Technologies has successfully tested LNP for fish feed applications and human food and beverage innovation firm Mattson completed thorough protein characterization and food prototyping for dish concepts such as smoothies, dairy-free cheese, and bread.

LanzaTech has also partnered with the U.S. Navy Research Lab on a joint research and contract development project jointly funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Office of Naval Research, and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to evaluate the viability of creating nutritional proteins on military platforms.

“We are excited to collaborate with LanzaTech on this groundbreaking extension of their carbon recycling platform. Together we are exploring the biomanufacturing potential of a nutritional protein product made from CO2 extracted from seawater,” said Dr. Matthew Yates, Research Biologist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. “Integrating LanzaTech's state of the art gas fermentation technology with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Seawater Carbon Capture Process presents a valuable opportunity to develop a unique capability to meet the nutritional needs of soldiers and sailors across the Joint Forces while simultaneously enhancing the resilience of military operations in an evolving geopolitical landscape.”

For more information on LanzaTech and LNP please visit https://lanzatech.com.

About LanzaTech

LanzaTech Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: LNZA) is the carbon recycling company transforming waste carbon into sustainable fuels, chemicals, materials, and protein for everyday products. Using its biorecycling technology, LanzaTech captures carbon generated by energy-intensive industries at the source, preventing it from being emitted into the air. LanzaTech then gives that captured carbon a new life as a clean replacement for virgin fossil carbon in everything from household cleaners and clothing fibers to packaging and fuels. By partnering with companies across the global supply chain like ArcelorMittal, Zara, H&M Move, Coty, On, and LanzaJet, LanzaTech is paving the way for a circular carbon economy. For more information about LanzaTech, visit https://lanzatech.com. READ MORE

Excerpt from Ag Funder News:

Over the years, however, it has also been exploring whether the nutrient-rich bacteria used in its process can be used in the food and feed industry at the end of their productive lives, and has now developed a new bacterial strain that will be dedicated to LNP production using biomass fermentation, chief science officer Dr. Zara Summers told AgFunderNews.

“We’ve already sold 25,000 metric tons of certified single cell protein from our current operations as animal feed. The new strain works with our existing technology and is dedicated for LNP production as the primary output. With this protein we are exploring broad food applications, spanning human and animal nutrition.”

She added: “LNP is 80% protein by dry weight and is complete with all amino acids. Its functional properties are similar to those of whey and pea protein. It is odorless and neutral in color, which makes it ideal for formulating; high, complete protein with all amino acids.”

Asked about inputs, Summers said: “We can use a range of gas input streams for LNP. This strain has been designed to use CO2 and H2 as its feedstock. The CO2 sources we’re targeting for LNP production are the same food-safe ones that currently supply the food and beverage sector for use in products such as carbonated beverages.”

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While LanzaTech is not the first company to develop bacterial biomass as a food or feed ingredient—notable players in this space include Superbrewed Food—it is distinctive in its approach to use gases, rather than sugars, as a feedstock, effectively decoupling food production from agriculture, said Summers.

“The LanzaTech process uses waste CO2 and low-carbon hydrogen as inputs, the price of which is forecast to trend down over time. This is different from sugar feedstock, which will always compete with food and is expected to trend upwards in cost. Compared to various mycelial (fungi) production pathways, LanzaTech’s advantage is using our proven bioreactor technology at industrial scale on a continuous fermentation basis, rather than relying on organic growth and batch processing.”

‘We ferment gases instead of sugars’

LanzaTech has commercial plants producing ethanol in China, India, and Belgium. In all of the plants except for the one in India, they’re primarily using carbon monoxide generated from steel production, said chief sustainability officer Freya Burton in recent interview with AgFunderNews.

“In the India plant, we’re using carbon-dioxide-rich gases but there’s also some hydrogen [in the emission stream], which we need for our process. And that’s the big issue for other technologies that are just focused on C02: where is the hydrogen going to come from?”

She added: “Transporting gases is not easy, so we integrate our facilities [with the source of emissions] so we don’t have to have lots of gas lines connecting to another site. It also means we can tap into the existing infrastructure you get at an industrial site in terms of utilities, water and so on.”

In a nutshell, she explained, “We ferment gases instead of sugars. What we do is quite complicated, but the simple way I think about it is that we don’t need to extract carbon anymore; there’s no need to take carbon out of the ground, because there’s enough above ground carbon to make everything we need.” READ MORE