Solar Foods

Solar Foods is a spin-off company. Its original idea is based on a joint research project focusing on renewable energy, carried out by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT.[5] In summer 2017, when the research group announced having succeeded in producing food out of thin air, it received publicity also internationally.[4] The company was founded the same year by D.Sc. (Tech.) Pasi Vainikka and D.Sc. (Tech.) Juha-Pekka Pitkänen together with Sami Holmström, Jero Ahola, Jari Tuovinen and Janne Mäkelä.[4] The company aimed at starting the first phase of commercial protein production during 2021[5] at a factory with an estimated annual capacity of 100 tonnes of protein.[6]

By spring 2018, Solar Foods had raised €800,000 in seed funding for building a pilot plant. The principal investor was Lifeline Ventures and other investors included, for example, VTT Ventures and Green Campus Innovations, a cleantech seed investor operating on the LUT campus. Additionally, the company received a product development loan of over one million euros from Business Finland. Solar Foods began to build a bioreactor tank with a production capacity of 1 kg of microbes per day. The company's previous bioreactor had been about the size of a coffee cup.[4] That autumn, Solar Foods was selected for the Business Incubation Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). The company's goal was to develop a system for producing food on Mars.[7][8] A 40-litre bioreactor is able to produce enough protein for a six-member crew.[9] The company had three employees.[4]

In March 2019, Solar Foods received a €50,000 grant from the Bank of Åland's Baltic Sea Project.[10] That spring, Solar Foods started its pilot plant, which produces protein that is used to develop new products together with a host of partners.[11] In summer, the company announced its plan to build a bigger protein factory with a capacity of approximately 6,000 tonnes a year. The final decision to build will be made once the company has gained sufficient operating experience from the smaller plant.[6] In September 2019, Fazer Group and Solar Foods announced having entered into partnership for developping the Solein protein together. The partnership was part of a financing round that brought Solar Foods €3.5 million as convertibles from Oy Karl Fazer Ab, Holdix Oy Ab, Turret Oy Ab and Lifeline Ventures.[7]

By April 2020, the company had raised a total of €4.3 million in funding.[2] In summer, the pilot plant produced 300 grams of protein a day, and Solar Foods announced plans to open, within the next couple of years, a new plant that would be a hundredfold bigger than the its current plant. That could again be scaled up to factory size, that is, to a plant the size of a football field. According to the company, Solein factories could be built in areas that are not suitable for food production with current methods, but that have solar or wind energy potential, such as the Sahara desert, arctic regions and space. The company said that by the end of 2022, it would bring to market a total of 20 different consumer products that could be used as breakfast ingredients or as substitutes for dairy products or meat.[12]

Solar Foods develops protein using air and electricity.[10] The production method is based on research carried out by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LUT University. The idea behind producing food out of thin air with electricity originates from the 1960s.[7]

The product is made by extracting carbon dioxide (CO
2) from the atmosphere and combining it with water, nutrients and vitamins.[13] The protein is produced using electricity under contained conditions inside a metallic bioreactor.[11] Electricity is needed for the process, but solar energy from Fortum (its partner) is used.[13] The microbes utilised in the protein production process are grown by fermentation.[11] [13] Fermentation is a biotechnical process in which living microorganisms, such as yeasts, moulds or bacteria, are grown to produce useful products.[3] The Solar Foods' idea is to feed microbes derived from the Finnish soil[9] with carbon dioxide, hydrogen and a small amount of trace elements. The microbe used in the method is able to produce amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and vitamins from carbon dioxide. The microbe reproduces itself using energy from hydrogen and carbon from carbon dioxide.[7][8] [11]

It's been claimed the product could have a revolutionary impact on food production.[14] [15] In 2019 Solar Foods told it was aiming at developing carbon neutral food production so that agriculture would no longer be needed to produce food and the land freed from agriculture could be reforested and converted into carbon sinks. According to them this would also reduce agricultural nutrient pollution and subsequent water supply problems.[10] It's been estimated that the land efficiency for Solar Foods methods would be about 20,000 times greater than for conventional farming.[14] In 2020, Michael Le Page for the New Scientist took a more sceptical view, noting that the x20,000 improvement only applies to the factories themselves. If land use for Solar panels is taken into account, then land efficiency only improves by about x10. Despite his doubts over how beneficial the technology will be overall, Le Page stated that "the potential rewards are so immense that we should be pouring vast sums of money into finding out."[16]

Solar Foods Ltd. manufactures Solein, single cell protein.[17] Solein is vegan, and the finished product contains approximately 65 percent protein, 20–25 percent carbohydrates and 5–10 percent fats. Solein also contains small amounts of essential chemical elements, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The carbon dioxide emissions from single cell cultivation are a hundred times lower than from meat production and ten times lower than from crop production.[9]

The protein produced by Solar Foods is similar to that used in the Quorn products.[4] The characteristics of Solein are similar to those of soy and dried algae.[9] It is said to be very mild, and when added to a pancake base, it tastes a bit like egg,[9] which means that it could be used in various kinds of food products,[18] such as plant-based yoghurts, smoothies, bread or pasta, or as an ingredient in plant-based meat substitutes.[19][6] Solar Foods has intended to apply for novel-food approval from the European Food Safety Authority EFSA so that Solein could be used for human consumption.[4] The protein could also be used in animal feed.[20]

A protein made from air is told to be cheaper than animal protein.[12] In 2019, the company predicted its products would become more cost efficient than the then cheapest source of protein (soya from South America) by about 2025.[14]

In 2019, Solar Foods received prominent recognition. It received

• the Index Award, financed by the state of Denmark and worth €100,000,[21] dubbed the "Nobel Prize of design" and awarded to solutions addressing issues vital for the global future, such as food production, plastic pollution and equality[22]
• the Pentti Malaska Futures Award, worth €30,000[23]
• The Europas: The Hottest CleanTech Startup Award[24]

Talouselämä, a Finnish financial and business weekly, named Solar Foods as one of the ten most promising startups in 2019[11] and 2020.[2]

• Fermentative hydrogen production
• List of meat substitutes

• Solar Foods Ltd. website