NIZO contributes novel protein expertise to European CO₂-to-protein project UNICO2RN
Ede, The Netherlands, 2nd of March 2026 – NIZO is contributing its expertise in novel proteins and ingredient functionality to UNICO2RN, a new European research project focused on converting biogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) into valuable microbial proteins and biobased materials.
The project, coordinated by VITO, brings together ten European partners to demonstrate how CO₂ emissions from bio-based industries can be transformed into sustainable products for food, feed and materials applications. By combining advanced CO₂ capture technologies with industrial gas fermentation, UNICO2RN aims to establish an integrated process chain that converts biogenic CO₂ into microbial biomass rich in protein, as well as biodegradable biopolymers.
Microbial proteins produced from CO₂ represent a promising new category of sustainable protein sources. However, translating fermentation output into high-quality, functional ingredients suitable for food and feed applications requires deep expertise in downstream processing, protein functionality and application development. Within UNICO2RN, NIZO focuses on transforming microbial biomass into functional protein ingredients and evaluating their performance in relevant food and feed systems. The work includes optimizing processing strategies to obtain high-quality protein fractions while improving overall process efficiency.
“Microbial proteins derived from CO₂ offer significant potential to contribute to a more circular and resilient food system. At NIZO, we ensure that these proteins are not only produced sustainably, but also meet the functional and nutritional requirements needed for real-world applications.” Dr. Emma Teuling Project Manager at NIZO and expert in novel proteins
By optimizing processing for the required techno-functional performance, NIZO helps bridge the gap between bioconversion technology and market-ready protein ingredients.
UNICO2RN integrates CO₂ capture technologies, including advanced purification systems, with aerobic gas fermentation using hydrogen-oxidising bacteria. The resulting microbial protein and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) will be validated under near-commercial conditions at industrial demonstration sites.
In addition to technological development, the project includes life cycle, techno-economic and safety assessments to support responsible scale-up and alignment with emerging European sustainability frameworks for CO₂-based products.
The UNICO2RN consortium consists of ten partners across Europe: VITO (BE), AERBIO (NL), CO2BioClean (DE), IDENER (ES), Lesaffre (FR), NIZO Food Research (NL), nova-Institute (DE), NUADA (UK), SABIO Biomaterials (IT) and Veolia (BE).
UNICO2RN is funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 10121426.
More information about the project is available at: https://unico2rn.eu
