On the initiative of Lesaffre, three international consortiums, bringing together ten partners, have just been launched around three Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) projects specifically adapted to the food industry.
The CCU For FOOD program brings together experts from all backgrounds with the aim of designing innovative and sustainable solutions. Its objective is to develop processes capable of transforming CO₂ into nutritional sources for fermentation and food products using Carbon Capture and Utilization technology combined with fermentation. This circular and innovative approach aims to address demographic and climate challenges by offering sustainable and environmentally friendly technological alternatives.
Engineers, researchers, and start-up entrepreneurs from around the world responded to the call, demonstrating their ambition to join the CCU for FOOD program during various working sessions with Lesaffre teams. This successful open-innovation initiative led to the formation of three consortiums this summer, involving 10 renowned European and American partners.
“We would like to thank our partners and Lesaffre employees for their commitment and shared ambition to develop solutions that will enable us to maintain sustainable food systems in the future. These consortium agreements mark an important step in our open innovation approach. Together, we are ready to move on to the next phases,” emphasizes Thierry Cosson, CCU for Food Program Manager at Lesaffre Operations.
Relevant and effective alternative pathways
The projects led by the consortiums focus on biogenic CO₂ capture and conversion pathways identified as particularly promising. To be considered relevant and effective, the technologies explored must demonstrate their technical feasibility, economic viability, and environmental and social benefits that are at least equivalent to, if not superior to, those of current processes. That is why the first phase currently aims to assess the technical and economic relevance and sustainability benefits of each CCU paths. On this basis, the scaling-up stages will be initiated for the options deemed to be the most effective.
As coordinator of the three consortia, Lesaffre firmly believes that innovation occurs when we pool our collective intelligence. That is why “the CCU for FOOD initiative remains open to all new partners (innovators, researchers, start-ups) and funders to strengthen the pool of expertise and broaden the field of applications,” says Thierry Cosson.
Contact: Enzo Duriez, Research Associate (e.duriez@lesaffre.com)
The 10 partners who joined Lesaffre on the CCU for Food program:
- Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant
- Carbon Limits AS
- Energo
- Lectrolyst
- Lena FRIEDMANN
- Processium
- PuRE Carbon Capture
- TU Delft (Netherlands)
- University of Liege (Belgium)
- University of Oulu (Finland)