{"id":182021,"date":"2026-10-07T07:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T05:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=182021"},"modified":"2026-10-03T10:47:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:47:50","slug":"university-spin-out-sets-out-to-turn-co2-into-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/university-spin-out-sets-out-to-turn-co2-into-food\/","title":{"rendered":"University spin-out sets out to turn CO\u2082 into food protein"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"From
From left: Alberto Robazza, CSO, Michael Martin, CEO, and Nils Rohbohm, CTO, make up the operating team at React Foods, which aims to develop and scale technology for producing protein-rich ingredients from CO\u2082 and hydrogen. \u00a9 Mads Sejer Nielsen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Most of the protein on our plates begins its journey on farmland. React Foods wants to explore a very different route.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of growing crops, the spin-out company will use microorganisms to turn CO\u2082 and hydrogen produced using renewable electricity into protein-rich yeast biomass.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ambition is to develop protein ingredients that could eventually be used in products such as protein bars or as an alternative to egg or dairy proteins \u2013 without requiring additional farmland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe are aiming to supplement existing protein value chains by creating a sustainable, vegan alternative \u2013 one that does not depend on arable land and is less exposed to extreme weather and geopolitical uncertainties,\u201d says Michael Martin, CEO of React Foods.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The new spin-out builds on research from Aarhus University, Stanford University and the University of T\u00fcbingen, conducted in collaboration with the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO\u2082 Research Center, CORC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

React Foods will develop and scale the technology using pilot facilities at AU Viborg, Aarhus University\u2019s research campus near the city of Viborg in central Denmark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it’s made<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First, microorganisms are fed CO\u2082 and renewable hydrogen, which they convert into acetate, the main component of vinegar. The acetate then becomes food for yeast in a second process. As the yeast grows, it produces a biomass rich in protein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What comes out of the process is not a ready-made food. The biomass still needs to be processed into ingredients with the right taste and properties before it can end up in the food we eat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the scale-up, the company aims to demonstrate that the complete process of producing yeast-based protein can operate as one integrated system. This will provide crucial knowledge about whether the technology can be scaled further and help lay the groundwork for future investment and industrial partnerships. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Aarhus
\u00a9 Aarhus University<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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\u201cThe CO\u2082-to-food concept offers an opportunity to produce protein without using additional arable land. But making the individual processes work is not enough. We need to connect them into an efficient system that can ultimately operate\u00a0at industrial\u00a0scale. That is exactly what the pilot facilities at AU Viborg allow us to work on: bringing the different processes together and studying how they perform as one integrated system,\u201d says Professor Lars Ottosen, Head of Department at the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering at Aarhus University<\/strong> and part of the company\u2019s scientific advisory board.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The start-up\u2019s operating team consists of CTO Nils\u00a0Rohbohm, CSO Alberto\u00a0Robazza\u00a0both postdocs from Aarhus University and part of CORC, as well as CEO Michael Martin.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the operating team, the founders of React Foods include Lars Angenent, Professor at the University of T\u00fcbingen; Alfred Spormann, Professor at Aarhus University and Stanford University; and Lars Ottosen. All three are Principal Investigators at CORC. Jozef M. E. Pennings, Professor at Maastricht University, is also among the founders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They all serve on the company\u2019s scientific advisory board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The start-up is backed by DKK 4.2 million from BioInnovation Institute (BII) and will be based in Copenhagen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academic founders on the advisory board<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The operating team consists of Martin, CTO Nils Rohbohm and CSO Alberto Robazza, with Rohbohm and Robazza both postdoctoral researchers at Aarhus University and members of CORC. The wider founding group includes Lars Angenent of the University of T\u00fcbingen, Alfred Spormann of Aarhus University and Stanford University, and Lars Ottosen of Aarhus University, all three principal investigators at CORC, along with Jozef M. E. Pennings of Maastricht University. All of the founders sit on the company\u2019s scientific advisory board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other routes to CO\u2082-derived protein<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Aarhus University is also a partner in the Acetate Consortium, which uses CO\u2082-derived acetate in place of sugar as a fermentation feedstock and entered a scale-up phase<\/a> focused on food prototypes last year with backing from the Gates Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe CO\u2082-to-food concept offers an opportunity to produce protein without using additional arable land. But making the individual processes work is not enough. We need to connect them into an efficient system that can ultimately operate at industrial scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is exactly what the pilot facilities at AU Viborg allow us to work on: bringing the different processes together and studying how they perform as one integrated system,\u201d said Professor Lars Ottosen, Head of Department at the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering at Aarhus University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of the protein on our plates begins its journey on farmland. React Foods wants to explore a very different route.\u00a0 Instead of growing crops, the spin-out company will use microorganisms to turn CO\u2082 and hydrogen produced using renewable electricity into protein-rich yeast biomass.\u00a0 The ambition is to develop protein ingredients that could eventually be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":182045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"React Foods will use technology developed by researchers from Aarhus University and international partners to turn CO\u2082, hydrogen and microorganisms into protein-rich ingredients from yeast","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[18487,5842,10744,12330,10416,16171,12417,10743,13821],"supplier":[4477,16493,3082,14241,1122,4237],"class_list":["post-182021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-biohydrogen","tag-biomass","tag-carboncapture","tag-ccu","tag-circulareconomy","tag-fermentation","tag-proteins","tag-useco2","tag-yeast","supplier-aarhus-university","supplier-bioinnovation-institute","supplier-maastricht-university","supplier-novo-nordisk-foundation-center","supplier-stanford-university","supplier-universitaet-tuebingen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182021"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182101,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182021\/revisions\/182101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182021"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=182021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}