Realizing Power-to-Food: Optimizing microbial hydrogen fermentation for maximum protein yields

INFORM seminars offer AOCS members a deeper look beyond the printed page. Each month, we expand on a featured INFORM magazine article through an in-depth conversation with the author, exploring the research, context, and implications behind the work.

New seminars are released every third Wednesday of the month and are exclusive to AOCS members. Join us to gain added perspective, hear directly from the researchers, and stay connected to the science shaping oils, fats, lipids, and related fields.

This month, in INFORM:

How can microbes transform carbon dioxide and hydrogen into high-quality protein? In this INFORM seminar, we go behind the research featured in the INFORM article “The (hydro)generation of sustainable foods” with author Carlos Woern, doctoral researcher in Food Science at the University of Massachusetts.

Woern’s work explores microbial hydrogen fermentation as a novel pathway for alternative protein production. Unlike more familiar fermentation approaches, this process relies on hydrogenotrophic bacteria that use carbon dioxide as a carbon source, opening new possibilities for sustainable, resource-efficient food systems.

In this seminar, Woern explains what makes this fermentation pathway unique, how the bacterium Cupriavidus necator was identified and optimized for protein production, and what it takes to safely operate a process that involves hydrogen gas. He also discusses experimental scale, protein yields, and what is currently known, and still unknown, about the nutritional, sensory, and functional properties of these proteins.

The conversation concludes with a look ahead at the research challenges and opportunities that must be addressed before hydrogen-based microbial proteins can move closer to commercial application.