Arkeon

History

2023: Starting production of CO2 food

In mid-January 2023, food tech startup Arkeon announced the start of using gas fermentation to turn CO2 into food. It is known that about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions are created in the production of food.

Austrian startup Arkeon uses microbes found in an underwater volcano. It is a high-pressure, high-temperature environment with very few nutrients, where microbes feed on nutrients found in the gas. The company uses this ability to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into amino acids through gas fermentation, where harmful emissions are converted into food.

Arkeon announces start of using gas fermentation to turn CO2 into food

This small microbe can have a big impact. Food production accounts for about a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. After eating a beef burger, for example, a person will produce 2 kg of CO2.

Arkeon took an unusual path: Instead of producing CO2 for cooking, the company decided to create food directly from carbon dioxide. Gas fermentation is similar to precision fermentation - a trend that investors in the field of food tech began to pay attention to, investing $133 million in 2021 and $90 million in 2022, mainly at the sowing stage of attracting investments.

Precise fermentation uses DNA splicing to introduce animal genes into yeast microbes - meaning that when cooked, similar to the brewing process of beer, they produce a milk-like liquid. Microbes feed on carbohydrates and sugars. The gas fermentation process at Arkeon is not that different, according to the co-founder and CEO of Arkeon, Gregor Tegle, the technology is very similar, but instead of using sugar-based nutrients that have to be grown on agricultural land, scientists use carbon dioxide and hydrogen as raw materials. More important, Tegle said, is the cost of hydrogen needed to power microbes, exacerbated by the lack of "green" hydrogen.

Arkeon's process produces amino acids, the building blocks of protein, in powder form. Tegle said the final product could be sold for use in protein powders and alternative protein products or in the cosmetics industry. For January 2023, Arkeon receives CO2 from breweries, but Tegle added that until 2025 it is possible to receive gas from energy producers who must be interested in doing so in order to meet emissions standards. It is not yet clear whether amino acids produced by gas fermentation will have to go through the European Union's new food approval process, which regulates products such as cultured meat and precision fermentation, scientists said.

Arkeon intends to bring its amino acids ready for cosmetics production to market in 2024, and to bring food products to market by 2026. Before this happens, Arkeon needs to scale up production to get closer to price parity with existing amino acid manufacturers. One obstacle is a shortage of bioreactors due to the growing demand for them, combined with a shortage of steel.^[1]

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