Coca-Cola invests in air-to-sugar technology

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has announced that it is collaborating, through its investment wing CCEP Ventures, with the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) to develop scalable methods and technology to convert CO2 from the air into sugar.

CCEP Ventures’ initial investment with UCB will support the Peidong Yang Research Group on foundational research which will focus on enabling the production of sugar from CO2 onsite and at an industrial level, with expectation of future investments to drive scale — from lab to pilot phase.

The development of lab-scale prototypes could make the generation of essential raw and packaging materials more sustainable in the long term. It could reduce some of the largest CO2 contributors in supply chains, while saving material, transportation and logistics costs.

The research and its funding are linked with CCEP’s commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

With agricultural ingredients, including sugar, amounting to approximately a quarter of CCEP’s overall carbon footprint, this technology could not only reduce emissions associated with sugar manufacturing processes but positively contribute to optimising land usage as less arable land becomes available due to global population growth.

In the longer term, the technology may also make the conversion of CO2 into PET plastic more efficient by reducing the need for crude oil in the manufacturing process and lowering costs.

Craig Twyford, Head of CCEP Ventures at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, said: “At CCEP, we want to grow sustainably, producing beverages that people love while helping to build a better future for our business, communities and the planet.

“CCEP Ventures is helping us find solutions to industry challenges and provide funding to make these foundational technologies a reality. We’re excited to be involved in this project that could lead the industry in the development of transformational technology capable of converting CO2 into more complex, usable goods.”

Prof. Peidong Yang at the University of California, Berkeley said: “Air to sugar conversion could significantly impact our ability to preserve the natural world. This is a bold scientific vision that would bring immediate environmental benefits, fundamentally transforming the production and distribution of goods across the world. We are pleased to be working with CCEP Ventures on research that could make a significant impact on our ability to create a more sustainable future.”

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners https://www.cocacolaep.com/

Cauliflower ice-cream startup founder wins award

Plant-based ice-cream company Kinda Ice Cream is set to launch in summer 2022 with its product made from cauliflower that’s not pretty enough to be sold in supermarkets.

“We’re creating a delicious product from waste and creating another income stream for farmers,” said Mrinali Kumar, who worked with Jenni Matheson and four others to develop the plant-based ice-cream concept.

“An ice cream made without farming animals, with a lower environmental impact... Kinda sounds good to me,” Kumar said.

She recently won the Momentum Student Entrepreneur award at the KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards. The awards celebrate scientific discoveries being successfully commercialised within New Zealand’s universities, Crown Research Institutes and other research organisations, and their impact on Aotearoa and beyond.

Kumar graduated from Massey University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Food Technology (Hons) in Product Development and is currently a postgraduate student at the university.

Through her studies she developed technical expertise and said: “Food Technology is an engineering degree — even though this was frustrating at the start (I really hated physics), in later years and especially now I understand the importance of learning fundamental science. Technical knowledge allows us to solve the problems that we face when trying to commercialise innovative foods, safely.”

The startup is set to commercialise its cauliflower ice cream later this year.

iStock.com/lutavia

Healthier butter-like spreads

Research chemists with the Agricultural Research Society (ARS) are looking to replace saturated fats found in margarine and spreads with plant-based and natural wax alternatives.

Saturated fats are used as solidifying agents in some of these products to give them their butter-like properties. To create alternatives, sunflower, rice bran, candelilla and beeswax, among other wax alternatives, are melted in hot vegetable oil and left to cool to room temperature, creating a semi-solid substance called an oleogel.

When mixed with water, salt and other ingredients, the substance mimics the role of saturated fat in producing a margarine, spread or shortening that has the desired firmness, mouthfeel, melting point, shelf-life and other properties. It is made of a network of plate-like crystals that immobilise molecules of oil in a gel state and mimic the function of solid saturated fat while minimising the associated health concerns.

Artificial trans fats were previously used for making the products, but were phased out in 2021 over concerns of increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Saturated fats without a trans structure, such as from palm oil and fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, are among the replacements currently used; however, consumers are advised to limit their intake of saturated fats.

Researcher Hong-Sik Hwang from the ARS centre’s Functional Foods Research Unit in Peoria, said: “We think 100% of the saturated fats can be replaced, including saturated fat in palm oil and fully hydrogenated vegetable oil.”

Researchers have so far created formulations from four different natural waxes and 12 different kinds of vegetable oils, including soy and hemp seed oil. Sunflower and rice bran seem to work best, with very little wax needed.

The researchers continue to refine the formulations by blending different waxes with oils to achieve the best combination of properties expected from current spreads. The work is part of a larger research effort at the ARS centre to find value-added uses for both established crops such as corn and soybeans and newer ones such as penny cress and hemp that will benefit producers and consumers alike.