Milk from carbon dioxide and electricity.

Our goal is to engineer a microbe that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen, produced from water using electricity, into beta-lactoglobulin, a major constituent of milk. In other words, HYDROCOW aims to produce milk with CO2 and electricity, removing the cow from the process.

HYDROCOW is a project funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) within the Pathfinder Challenge: Carbon dioxide and nitrogen management and valorisation

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Potential impact

Project HYDROCOW realizes a radically new technology that has the potential not only to address the global challenge of sustainability of food production and the resulting CO2 emissions but also to create a totally new market in the food industry. The main impact of the project is through the disconnection of food production from agriculture. This leads to the development of a net-zero carbon, animal-free food product, with an estimated 99% reduction in land and water use in comparison to dairy cows - taking into consideration the land and water use of protein production, such as factory space.