Life cycle assessment of microbial protein production using hybrid living materials

Description

The rising global demand for sustainable protein highlights the need for innovative microbial technologies that also address climate change challenges. Hybrid Living Materials (HLMs) are designed as interfaces between artificial supports and living microorganisms, enabling the simultaneous capture of greenhouse gases and protein production. In this system, porous membranes host a synergic microbial consortium of methanotrophic and photoautotrophic organisms, which together transform CH₄ and CO₂ into protein-rich biomass suitable for feed applications.
A cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to evaluate the environmental performance of HLM-based protein production. The study identifies environmental hotspots in the laboratory-scale production process, proposes mitigation scenarios, and establishes a baseline for benchmarking HLM-derived protein against conventional sources, such as fishmeal and soymeal. The LCA encompassed microbial pre-cultivation, biofilm formation, biomass harvesting and drying, as well as the preparation and modification of the supporting membranes. Two functional units (FUs) were applied: FU1 – production of 1 kg microbial protein via HLMs, used to identify process-level hotspots, and FU2 – production of 1 kg protein equivalent to that in fishmeal, used for comparison with conventional proteins.
Results indicate that in microbial protein production, electricity demand during cultivation and drying accounts for more than 70% of the environmental burden. In addition to energy, several impact categories were identified as critical during the biofilm formation process, including freshwater eutrophication, marine and freshwater ecotoxicity, and human carcinogenic toxicity. While environmental challenges remain in several categories, advantages in land and water use were observed when compared to soymeal and fishmeal. These findings illustrate how LCA can act not only as an evaluation tool but also as a guide for directing microbial innovation towards circular and climate-resilient protein production.

Period	1 Oct 2025 → 3 Oct 2025
Event title	6th Congress of Baltic Microbiologists
Event type	Congress
Conference number	6
Location	Riga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International