MaximaLabs

Gas fermentation: carbon from CO₂, energy from hydrogen

Hydrogen-oxidizing chemolithoautotrophs fixing carbon dioxide into single-cell protein, with no organic feedstock at all.

Chemolithoautotrophic growth on H₂, O₂ and CO₂Closes the gas and liquid balances togetherPatent benchmark JP2024028821A
H₂ / O₂ / CO₂ feed
Liquid medium
Gas fermenter
Off-gas
Biomass broth

The actual dark-mode canvas: a hydrogen/oxygen/carbon-dioxide gas feed and a liquid medium contacted in a fermenter where chemolithoautotrophs fix CO₂ into biomass, leaving an off-gas and a protein-rich broth.

Carbon from CO₂, energy from hydrogen

These organisms need no sugar and no organic feedstock — they take carbon from CO₂ and energy from hydrogen, which is what makes the route interesting when the hydrogen is renewable. The stoichiometry closes both the gas-side and liquid-side balances at once, so the hydrogen demand per tonne of protein is a solved number rather than a claim.

21.36H2+6.21O2+4.09CO2+0.76NH3biomass+H2O21.36\,\mathrm{H_2} + 6.21\,\mathrm{O_2} + 4.09\,\mathrm{CO_2} + 0.76\,\mathrm{NH_3} \longrightarrow \text{biomass} + \mathrm{H_2O}
electron donor: H2,carbon source: CO2(no organic feedstock at all)\text{electron donor: } \mathrm{H_2}, \quad \text{carbon source: } \mathrm{CO_2} \quad \text{(no organic feedstock at all)}
gas and liquid balances close simultaneously\text{gas and liquid balances close simultaneously}

Unit ops shipped for this vertical

Gas fermentation

Chemolithoautotrophic growth on H2/O2/CO2, closing both the gas and liquid balances.

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Live plant integration

Stream gas-feed composition, off-gas analysers and broth density from the fermenter's OPC-UA server into this flowsheet's twin comparison — gas-to-liquid mass transfer is the limiting step here, and a drift from the solved uptake is the first sign of it.

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