Partnership advancing technology behind conversion of CO2 into algae at industrial scale

“Remediiate is having a number of advanced stage conversations with some of the leading global feed businesses, this is going to be large-scale in terms of technology adoption,”​ said Simon Davis, sustainable agriculture lead, Anthesis, a company that works with cities, companies, and other organizations to drive sustainable performance; its ventures arm has been partnering with Remediiate since May last year.

The alliance combines Anthesis’ connected position within the sustainability industry and its purpose of making sustainability happen, with Remediiate’s suite of patented, photonic technologies that convert CO2 into algae at industrial scale.

“Our ventures business looks to partner with early-to-growth stage companies that are aligned with our purpose and that have potential for game-changing impact on lots of different sectors. ​

“Remediiate is a plug and play piece of kit that can operate on pretty much any manufacturing site around the world. It sits at that factory, takes the emissions from a flue stack chimney – so that is carbon methane and noxious gases – and uses that as an energy source to grow algae at scale. The technology is agnostic, it could be used with any kind of factory emitter – from power stations, to cement works, to a chemical manufacturer or a food business,” ​said Davis.

With 36 billion tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated globally each year, Remediiate’s technology could, at scale, remove the 20 billion tons generated from power generation and industrial processes, he said.

“For every two tons of C02 emitted, Remediiate’s technology creates one ton of algae biomass. So for 50,000 tons of C02 converted to 25,000 tons of algae, it would use about half a hectare of land."​

The availability of such protein-rich feed raw materials, decoupled from sea and only requiring minimal land, also reduces the reliance on soy and the farming impacts related to deforestation, said the sustainable ag expert.

“The algae can be used for animal feed, but also for use in soil rejuvenation, and methane reduction in cows.”​

Ensuring long-term resilience of agriculture and food sectors​

Established in 2013 and growing upwards of 20% in revenue annually, Anthesis now has 600 employees. March 2021 saw it secure a “significant minority investment”​ from Palatine Private Equity, a responsibly-driven, mid-market private equity firm.

Anthesis argues that to build a more resilient food system, organizations within agriculture, food manufacturing and retail must work to develop new technology–enabled mechanisms to:

• Revalue and regenerate agriculture – supporting water resilience, soil health, reforestation, biodiversity and farmers livelihoods
• Rebuild resilient supply chains
• Incentivize the adoption of creative and transformative solutions in food production

The group has tools to support companies in the agriculture, food manufacturing and retail space in that respect:

• Cool Farm Tool – an online greenhouse gas calculator that offers farmers worldwide a simple, free way to measure the environmental impact of their crops and livestock. It helps farmers to understand where their emissions hotspots are and assess different scenarios for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving their resource efficiency.
• Tesco Supplier Network – available to over 10,000 suppliers worldwide. This activator hub connects suppliers to Tesco and to each other in order to promote stronger relationships and aid collaboration, spreading innovation and best practice across Tesco’s global supply chain.
• Vastum –  a digital waste tracking tool - the free-to-use system aims to digitally record all waste movements, tracking waste from the producer to its final destination and fate, so helping to reduce waste crime.