The food industry is open source and throttling to resolve the pain of carbon dioxide shortage

For the food and beverage industry, carbon dioxide has always been a "love and hate" existence

Carbon dioxide shortages threaten the European food supply

As the "public enemy" of global climate issues, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, or "sequestering" excess carbon dioxide in the air, has been a crucial part

Commercial carbon dioxide shortages have persisted

After major producers cut production due to rising energy costs, carbon dioxide shortages have put pressure

In Britain, large and small town taverns can be found

In addition, ammonia is an important raw material

The price of carbon dioxide soared, with offers soaring from £200 per ton to £1,000

Previously, the Polish subsidiary of the Danish beer company Carlsberg also announced a reduction in production

Valberto Bertone, chief executive of Santa Ana, Italy's main mineral water producer, said the shortage of carbon dioxide was getting worse and the company had suspended some production

Giangiacomo Pierini, president of the Italian soft drink industry organization, said that the strong demand for beverages in the summer has exacerbated the carbon dioxide shortage situation, and "more and more companies, including large and medium-sized enterprises, have expressed concern about

In addition, carbon dioxide is also used to slaughter pigs, and according to the Belgian Federation of Meat Industries, about 75% of slaughters in Belgium are carried out

Is there no excess CO2 emissions? "We do have enough carbon dioxide in our atmosphere," explains Peter William Lemmons of the Belgian Climate Research Agency: "There are many sectors that emit carbon dioxide, but they contain many other gases and particles

Niklas Kurante, spokesman for the Belgian Food Industry Federation, said: "We don't yet know how much of an impact this will have on the food industry, but this proves once again that high energy prices have a huge impact on

The Belgian Chemical Industry Federation said: "The problem is that there are very few

The food industry urgently needs to establish a more flexible raw material supply system

At present, in various carbon reduction and carbon control technologies, carbon capture technology has become the focus of

More and more food and beverage companies around the world are trying to convert captured carbon dioxide into usable products

The UK already has plans to establish and promote the technology
in the 2030s.
To ensure that carbon capture is viable, significant investments
in infrastructure are required.
Outside the UK, Swiss and Canadian start-ups, Japan's IHI and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are also starting and building large carbon capture plants
.

Currently, there are 19 direct Air Capture carbon dioxide plants in operation
worldwide.
With the rise of the global DAC plant construction boom, 85 tons of carbon dioxide per year can be captured by 2030 and 980 tons of carbon dioxide
per year by 2050.

If "borrowing carbon" from the air is considered "open source", then reducing the use cases of carbon dioxide, or developing alternatives to it, is an important step to
"throttle".
In 2020, the Royal Society of Chemistry proposed to develop new gas feedstocks as carbon dioxide substitutes, and nitrogen is the best "alternative"
.

In the food and beverage industry, the use of nitrogen began with the rise
of nitrogen-filled coffee a few years ago.
Since then, nitrogen beer and nitrogen milk have appeared
.
Just in late February this year, Pepsi Cola launched a new nitrogen cola, the foam is softer and denser, the surface is smooth, and the "velvet" feel is
rich.
"Softer than soft drinks" has become the biggest selling point
of nitrogen-filled drinks.

In another area of carbon dioxide consumption, fresh food preservation, people are also reducing their dependence on
carbon dioxide through a variety of technologies.
Nitrogen is an ideal inert gas, the temperature of food preserved with nitrogen will not change, and the moisture will not be lost, which can form a perfect alternative
to the traditional carbon dioxide preservation.

In addition to modified atmosphere preservation, in recent years, the food industry has also developed new preservation technologies such as low-temperature plasma sterilization, edible coating film, nano-zinc oxide, etc.
, which further reduces the "appearance rate" of carbon dioxide in the field of preservation while enriching the means of preservation, improving the preservation effect and cost-effective
.

Industry insiders said that the shadow of palm oil shortages that began last year has not yet dissipated, and it has already had a huge impact on
the global baking, confectionery and convenience food industries.
Nowadays, carbon dioxide raw materials are frequently in emergency, which also reflects the fragility and risk
of the current international supply chain from one side.
In the face of many uncertainties, on the one hand, the food industry must establish a more flexible raw material supply system to reduce the dependence on certain raw materials and certain origins (supply sources); On the other hand, the establishment of a more diversified product structure and the acceleration of the research and development of alternative raw materials and formulas can enable enterprises to "move left and right, advance and retreat freely"
.

(Han Songyan, comprehensive arrangement)

China Food News(2022/09/20/02 edition)

(Editor-in-charge: Han Songyan)