React Foods has spun out of Aarhus University to commercialise a fermentation technology that turns CO2 and hydrogen into a protein-rich yeast biomass, backed by a loan of 4.2 million kroner ($645,000).
The gas protein sector’s newest entrant is a startup built on cross-institutional research.
Danish firm React Foods is a spinout from Aarhus University, looking to commercialise research conducted by the country’s second-largest university in collaboration with Stanford University, the University of Tübingen, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO₂ Research Center (CORC).
It has just received 4.2 million kroner ($645,000) in a convertible loan from the latest tranche of investments from Bioinnovation Institute, an accelerator funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
React Foods will use the funds to develop and scale microbial fermentation technology that converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen into yeast proteins for future-friendly food products.
Targeting the whey and egg protein markets
Aarhus University is part of the Acetate Consortium launched by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Gates Foundation in 2023, which aims to produce microbial proteins using CO2-derived acetate (or vinegar) as feedstock instead of sugar.
Its new spinoff company feeds microbes on CO2 and renewable hydrogen, which get converted into acetate. This then becomes food for yeast in a second process, and as the yeast grows, it produces a biomass rich in protein.
The resulting biomass isn’t a ready-made food product – it needs to still be processed into ingredients with the right taste and properties before it can be commercialised.
React Foods is aiming to position the biomass as a replacement for egg or dairy proteins in various food products, including as an alternative to whey protein bars, making it a potential new source of protein in our diets.
It comes as skyrocketing demand for the macronutrient puts pressure on livestock-based supply chains. Supply shortages and record-high prices have left the egg and whey protein markets reeling, forcing manufacturers to look for more resilient alternatives.
“We are aiming to supplement existing protein value chains by creating a sustainable, vegan alternative – one that does not depend on arable land and is less exposed to extreme weather and geopolitical uncertainties,” said CEO Michael Martin.
React Foods courts funding and industrial partnerships through scale-up plan
React Foods will develop and scale the technology at a state-of-the-art pilot plant at AU Viborg, Aarhus University’s research campus near Viborg in central Denmark.
It aims to show that the complete process of yeast protein production can be operated as one integrated system, which it said will provide crucial knowledge about whether the technology can be scaled further, and help lay the groundwork for future investment and industrial partnerships.
“The CO₂-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,” said Lars Ottosen, processor and head of the university’s Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering.
“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,” he added.
React Foods’s launch reflects the growing momentum around the gas protein space. Finland’s Solar Foods is leading this space, having commercialised its Solein protein in Singapore and the US.
Meanwhile, Unibio is working with the Saudi Industrial Investment Group to build the world’s largest gas protein factory, and Biosphere has won a $9M Department of Defense grant to develop portable, “field-deployable” bioreactors to produce on-demand gas proteins for the US Army. Air Protein, LanzaTech, Jooules, and Aerbio are also innovating in this space.
