Making protein from thin air – or at least from carbon dioxide from direct air capture – is the mission of Solar Foods. Anthony Wright reports on the company’s progress.
There are many technology companies moving on the opportunity in carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock, but not all that many to date are trying to produce a food product. Most are focused on industrial applications. Finnish company Solar Foods is a bit different, then. The company wants to use CO2 that’s pulled from the air with direct air capture technology and then ferment it with green hydrogen and microbes to create a protein-rich organism that can easily be productised.
The food tech business, which is already listed on Nasdaq in Finland to attract institutional investors, is setting its sights on the US market as a first step. And it has a flagship product as it gets under way, which it is a protein powder it is calling Solein.
Why the US market first? It is a long way from its Finnish home, after all. Chief Strategy Officer Troels Norgaard said in December last year, in a presentation to investors, that the move stateside reflected how the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has already given the product a Generally Recognised as Safe (GRAS) designation, in September 2024. This has opened the door for the protein powder to be taken to market.
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