String Bio and Woodside Energy Partner on Sustainable Ingredients Made From Methane Emissions

The next big sustainable protein could come from the methane emissions of the animals it’s aiming to replace as String Bio and Woodside Energy announce a protein collaboration using methane emissions.

Indian-based String Bio, a biotech innovator, has partnered with Australia’s Woodside Energy Technologies to further develop a methane-based technology platform that turns trapped methane emissions into protein.

Tackling methane emissions

Methane is a leading contributor to climate change; the greenhouse gas is a byproduct of energy production, agriculture, and waste and traps 27 times more heat than carbon dioxide.

A steady stream of recent reports has highlighted the issues with methane and the urgent need for solutions. Reducing methane can play a significant role in meeting climate targets, but a recent report found not enough funding is going toward the solution, despite its impact being greater than other green tech solutions.

“Our fundamental ethos is to enable supply and establish demand for our diverse product portfolio. The partnership with Woodside will be a defining milestone to enable carbon-friendly products in the global marketplace,” Vinod Kumar, Co-Founder and Managing Director of String Bio, said in a statement.

“Our investment in String Bio builds on our ability to potentially abate greenhouse gases through the conversion of carbon into useful products,” Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill said. “We believe String Bio’s technology could eventually be used to recycle methane at Woodside facilities. It could also be deployed at third-party sites with available biomethane such as landfill facilities and farms.”

String Bio Series B

The partnership with Woodside overlaps with the first close of a $20 million Series B funding round that also includes Ankur Capital, Dare Ventures, Redstart, and Zenfold Ventures among others. The new funding will help increase the market growth and strengthen its decarbonization imact, String Bio says.

String Bio’s technology incorporates biology, fermentation, chemistry, and process engineering to convert methane into products including protein ingredients, crop inputs, and biodegradable polymers while also helping to achieve global decarbonization targets.

“The vision for String has been to leverage cutting edge advances in biotechnology to enable better living at significantly reduced environmental footprint.,” said Dr. Ezhil Subbian, Co-Founder & CEO, String Bio. “With the Woodside collaboration and Series B raise, we are taking a giant step forward to bring such solutions to market – solutions that are better for people and the planet.”