Startup Windfall Bio has developed microorganisms that can tackle some of the most challenging sources of methane.
During its first 20 years in the atmosphere, methane is approximately 83 times more potent than carbon dioxide. While some of the world's largest oil and gas producers have pledged to significantly reduce methane emissions by 2030, the largest anthropogenic source is agriculture, particularly agriculture. It’s beef and dairy production where these emissions have proven difficult to avoid.
“This is especially difficult because agriculture is so important and we all need to eat,” said Stephanie Díaz, an associate on Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s technology and innovation team.
This is where Windfall hopes to get involved, with methane-eating microorganisms (mems). In addition to destroying methane, the process also produces organic fertilizer. The startup is currently trialling its technology with customers including Whole Foods, which supplies Windfall access to its network of dairy farmers.
Windfall co-founder and CEO Josh Silverman said methane "has been a huge blind spot" and that MEMS could be a way to turn harmful emissions into useful substances and a source of revenue.
He compared the microorganisms to yeast; MEMS like to eat methane just like yeast likes to eat sugar, and Windfall's mems use the energy from the methane they eat to extract nitrogen from the air, creating an organic fertilizer that customers can use on Own farm to use or sell for profit.
This technology is best suited for enclosed methane sources such as: dairy barns, tarp-covered manure lagoons, or enclosed feedlots where the gas can be easily vented and disposed of. In oil and gas facilities, this may look like Things like diverting methane pipes that would otherwise be burned, which in a landfill could mean getting methane from wells drilled into the structure or from cracks and leaks in the landfill cap.
At dairies, farmers can spread microorganisms (mems) on their compost piles, and methane generated from barns, sewage ponds or feedlots can be piped into the treated compost. For customers who cannot compost directly, they can add microorganisms (mems) to any solid, Microbes grown on inert surfaces, such as biochar or even plastic beads in fiberglass buckets, can be reused, in the latter case the transformed cells can be sprayed and dried into a high-nitrogen paste.
Fertilizer made with Windfall's MEMS is cheaper than traditional organic fertilizers, Silverman said, and the company's main challenge now is meeting demand, which he added is why fundraising has been so rapid following Windfall's $9 million seed round last year. The company's focus in the coming year will be on scaling up its manufacturing process to begin supplying MEMS in commercial quantities in 2025.
Source: Bloomberg (2024.4.8) Methane-Eating Microbes Show Promise for Wiping Out Planet-Warming Emissions