Super Cool Super-Charged Carbon Recyclers

Did you learn, witness or experience anything jaw dropping today? Did you feel inspired? What excited you today?

I just finished reading Christiana Wyly’s jaw dropping blog entitled, “The Giant Leap Our Food System Must Make” in which she introduced me to Kiverdi, a tech company that sustainably transforms carbon dioxide into edible protein and oils using microbes.

Yes, you read that right and I will wait while you pick your jaw up off the floor.

Please bear with me will I nerd about the amazing details. Inside a bioreactor, a special class of chemoautotrophic microbes called hydrogenotrophs (nicknamed Super-Charged Carbon Recyclers by the company) transforms carbon dioxide and various other gases that are commonly found in the industry or can be generated directly from solid organic materials like agricultural residue into bio-based products. Once the products are generated, they are taken out of the bioreactor, the products are separated from the co-products and the water is recycled. These raw materials can be used in a wide range of consumer and industrial applications such as lotions, detergents, paints and packaging materials.

This isn’t merely a really cool science project. It is a promising solution to some challenges that the world faces. Recognizing the global need for more protein due to increases in population and the need of more sustainable ways of producing it, the company has created protein rich meal that has a 50% higher protein content than soy meal and an amino acid (the building blocks of protein) profile that is comparable to animal protein.

Palm oil is widely used in many consumer products like detergents, cosmetics and candles and as such, between the years of 2000–2012, rainforests equaling roughly the size of Ireland were clear cut in Indonesia to make room for palm plantations. Kiverdi realized the need for more sustainable, plant-based oils and uses carbon dioxide recycling to fill this need.

Kiverdi’s goal is to supplement existing agriculture processes with their innovative technology in an effort to feed the world and to create a more sustainable, cleaner and secure world. The jaw dropping technology is inspirational and exciting and it has the potential to fulfill the company’s goal.

The precarious state of the food system is concerning, but with this challenge comes innovation that can inspire and excite. I am excited to see what the future holds.