Assessing Hydrogen's Potential for Sustainable Protein Production

Renewable hydrogen has varied uses as a decarbonization enabler. Projects run the gamut from long-haul aviation to power generation, shipping propulsion, chemical production, long duration energy storage, and sustainable protein production. Startups such as Solar Foods, Avecom, LanzaTech and NovoNutrients are all working to develop competitive protein offerings that use hydrogen as a feedstock. In January 2022, Norwegian electrolyzer manufacturer Nel confirmed that it had received $5 million of purchase orders for proton exchange membrane electrolyzers for this purpose.

These companies seek to address the challenge of animal agriculture’s contribution to human-caused climate change and environmental degradation. The livestock industry is responsible for high levels of methane emissions, loss of natural habitats, and disruption of the nitrogen cycle due to demand for fertilizers for feed crops. Where does hydrogen fit in? This blog looks at how sustainable protein production using hydrogen works, why it’s attracting interest, and what its potential role could be in decarbonizing the food industry.

Unpacking the Technology

Hydrogen-based sustainable protein production uses hydrogen oxidizing bacteria to produce single cell proteins (SCPs) called H2-SCPs. Hydrogen acts as an electron donor, enabling the conversion of CO2 into protein-rich biomass. CO2 supplies can be obtained from other industrial processes or captured directly from the air, although the latter approach requires substantially greater energy inputs. Nutrient-rich waste streams can also be added to the process to enable efficient nutrient recovery. The resulting product contains an impressive amino acid profile that is comparable to that of fish meal.

While it has yet to make significant inroads into food production, microbial protein growth is not a new concept. In the 1970s, scientists in the Soviet Union successfully trialed microbial protein production using hydrocarbon feedstocks to minimize dependence on imported protein sources. More recently, companies such as Calysta and Unibio have been using natural gas to cultivate microbial protein for the aquaculture industry. H2-SCP uses the same technology—except it requires a separate carbon source.

Different companies are targeting different markets for H2-SCP. For instance, Avecom is looking to substitute its product for animal feed sources such as soymeal, while Solar Foods is promoting its product directly for human consumption. The latter company recently won a NASA competition to develop a food technology for astronauts on deep space journeys. H2-SCP can also be applied directly to cropland as a slow-release fertilizer. Suitable uses will be influenced by microbial safety considerations and acceptable levels of trace contaminants. 

Scoping the Advantages

The key advantage of sustainable protein production that uses hydrogen is that it allows food production to be decoupled from land use. A 2019 study by Finnish researchers found that microbial protein production that uses renewable hydrogen and direct air-captured CO2 entails significantly lower land use than producing protein from soy (and requires 10 times less water). Using CO2 from other industrial processes would reduce this land footprint even further.

However, sustainable protein production joins a long list of potential applications for renewable hydrogen. Each of these end uses has its own claim as an indispensable enabler of emissions reductions. CO2 streams face the same scale problem, with potential applications ranging from the manufacture of sustainable materials to the production of synthetic fuels.

Given these limitations, hydrogen’s prospects in the sustainable protein space will depend on several factors, including the availability of renewable energy sources, the development of hydrogen demand within other segments, the cost-competitiveness of H2-SCP versus alternative protein sources, and the strength of policies targeted at food system decarbonization. As with other emerging applications, technological uncertainty complicates prediction, but it’s a market worth watching. For a more detailed exploration of emerging hydrogen end uses, read Guidehouse Insights’ recent report on the topic.