Bacteria can metabolise sugars in milk or wheat into wondrous forms like sourdough bread, sauerkraut, beer and cheese. Modern industrial fermentation uses similar techniques: it cultivates biochemicals in the bodies of microorganisms for drugs, proteins, nutraceuticals, and personal care chemicals.

Already, fermentation technology allows us to replace petrochemical inputs with organic feedstock for a vast range of goods. However, new feedstocks could be about to bolster its sustainability credentials further.

Right now, the fermentation industry feeds microbes on food waste, paper waste, farming waste, or plant crops. The microbes break these organic feedstocks into sugars and the sugars into the target chemical plus carbon.

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[World Bio Market Insights, 2023.10.18, https://worldbiomarketinsights.com/chemicals-from-thin-air-gas-fermentation-and-the-future-of-bio-manufacturing/]