From natural gas to fish food?
BP invests in startup hoping to utilize methane emissions
Instead of flaring natural gas, BP wants to turn it into fish food.
The British oil major is investing $30 million in a Silicon Valley startup that aims to convert natural gas into food for fish farms and livestock, helping to feed the world, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and free up land. The company, Calysta, is developing protein pellets to meet the growing demand for feed in the agriculture and aquaculture markets.
“By pairing Calysta’s exciting technology and entrepreneurial drive with BP’s global scale and gas market expertise, this partnership offers the opportunity to improve food security and sustainability for the world’s growing
population,” said Dominic Emery, BP’s group head of strategy.
What to do with vast amounts of natural gas produced alongside oil in U.S. shale plays has become a challenge for many energy companies, particularly in West Texas’ Permian Basin. In many cases, energy companies are just burning off, or flaring, the natural gas, which is less valuable than oil.
At the same time, the industry has come under pressure to reduce emissions of methane, the main component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas.
Calysta uses a naturally occurring bacteria that it grows in a proprietary fermentation process in which the bacteria feed off methane — as its carbon and energy source. The fermented
bacteria is then mixed with water and nutrients to create a proteinbased food substitute.
It’s then dried and packaged in pellet form as fish and livestock feed, which the company sells under the brand FeedKind.
Calysta already has one pilot plant in the United Kingdom with another in Memphis currently under construction.
The company contends that one plant producing its pellets on a commercial scale would be able to replace soy products now used for fish feed and free up enough land for other agriculture to feed as many as 250,000 people.
BP’s investment in Calysta is another example of major oil companies working to build their environmental credentials as climate change — accelerating as the world burns fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal — becomes an increasingly urgent issue.
BP has repeatedly warned this year that global emissions are rising and the world isn’t close to meeting the recent Paris climate accord goal of keeping a global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius by 2100.
Rather than eliminate oil and gas, BP has argued the industry must work much more aggressively to reduce its emissions and operate much more efficiently. Using natural gas to make fish and animal feed is one example.
“The longer carbon emissions continue to rise, the harder and more costly will be the necessary eventual adjustment to net-zero carbon emissions,” said BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley earlier in June. “As I have said before, this is not a race to renewables, but a race to reduce carbon emissions across many fronts.”