Seaweed-based feed supplement cuts methane emissions by 81%

Swedish startup Volta Greentech announced the results of its pilot on a commercial beef farm. The practice showed that methane emissions were reduced by on average 81 percent in animals fed the seaweed-based feed supplement.

Volta Greentech showed in a pilot at a commercial beef farm that methane emissions burped out by the animals were reduced by on average 81% when fed the company’s seaweed-based feed supplement. This is an important milestone for Volta Greentech whose vision is to battle global warming by drastically reducing methane emissions from cattle.

In the pilot at the farm “Tre Bönder’’ outside Eskilstuna in Sweden, 17 animals were fed the seaweed-based feed supplement as part of their diet to reduce methane production. The pilot is described in the company’s new climate report.

The seaweed comes from Volta Greentech’s land-based pilot factory in Lysekil on the Swedish west coast, designed to be replicated at scale and laying the technical foundation for coming factories. The feed supplement is grown sustainably using renewable energy and waste heat from another nearby factory.

MARKET POTENTIAL AND IMPACT IS HUGE
“The 1.5 billion cows on the planet produce 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, twice the amount of the world’s airplanes. We have now shown that our seaweed has the potential to reduce a large part of those emissions. The market potential and the impact we can achieve with this solution is huge,” says Volta Greentech CEO and co-founder Fredrik Åkerman.

The greenhouse gas methane is 28 times more potent than CO₂ at a 100-year time horizon. At COP26, more than 100 countries signed the Global Methane Pledge to reduce 30 percent of methane emissions by 2030. For many countries, reducing emissions from cattle may hold the greatest potential to reach that target.

FIRST LARGE-SCALE SEAWEED FACTORY
Next year, Volta Greentech is planning to build its first large-scale seaweed factory – Volta Factory 02 – with a planned production of 50 tonnes of the feed supplement per year. Further capital will be raised during the year for building the next factory as well as for research and development.

Investors in earlier funding rounds include Northvolt founder and CEO Peter Carlsson and one of Volta’s customers in the food retail sector.