In the past two decades, the world has mobilized around reducing and sequestering CO2, but CH4 remains critically under-addressed. In fact, many climate experts believe cutting methane is the single most impactful way to prevent planetary warming in our lifetime. “Methanotrophs” are a family of naturally occurring soil microbes that eat methane and transform it into bioavailable nutrients for plants like tiny trees that eat CH4, instead of CO2. Mimicking nature’s blueprint, Amazon-backed “Windfall Bio” believes they have found a way to cultivate and scale this solution for the world. Windfall Bio, a pioneering company in methane-to-value solutions, hit a significant commercial milestone in the development of its innovative methane-eating microbes technology. On January 15, 2025, the company announced that it had successfully scaled up the fermentation of its proprietary microbes, which they call “mems,” to nearly 45,000 gallons. This breakthrough represents a significant step forward in the company’s mission to address methane emissions and provide sustainable agricultural solutions.
Windfall Bio’s mems, are at the heart of the company’s nature-based approach to tackling greenhouse gas emissions. These microbes which are “methanotrophs,” organisms capable of consuming methane as their primary source of energy. The mems oxidize methane molecules, breaking them down into simpler carbon compounds, providing energy for the microbes to grow. As the mems consume methane, they also capture nitrogen gas from the air. The nitrogen and other compounds are released by the mems, becoming valuable nutrients for other microorganisms in the soil, such as bacteria and fungi.
What sets Windfall Bio’s approach apart is its focus on mimicking nature’s efficiency. The company selects the most effective methanotroph strains and combines them to create its proprietary consortia, without the need for genetic modification. The recent milestone of scaling up fermentation is a crucial step in Windfall Bio’s journey towards widespread commercial deployment. This achievement demonstrates the company’s ability to produce scalable quantities of mems in a repeatable process. To accelerate production, Windfall has partnered with contract manufacturing organizations like FERMWORX, a specialty fermentation company.
Josh Silverman, co-founder and CEO of Windfall Bio, said that reaching commercial-scale production of our mems marks a pivotal milestone for Windfall Bio and the future of methane removal. This achievement not only demonstrates our ability to deploy a nature-based solution at scale but also redefines how industries can turn harmful methane emissions into valuable products like organic fertilizer.
The commercial-scale production of Windfall Bio’s mems presents several potential benefits for farmers as well. As the mems consume methane, they transform it into nitrogen-rich biomass. This biomass can be processed into high-value organic fertilizer, which farmers can use on their own land or sell in the market. This provides an additional revenue stream while reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers. The application of mems to farmland can enhance soil health by increasing the population of beneficial microorganisms. By deploying mems on their farms, particularly in areas with high methane emissions, such as rice fields or cattle ranches, farmers can significantly reduce their greenhouse gas footprint, putting them in line with increasing market and regulatory demands for sustainable farming practices. As geopolitical events have shown the vulnerability of synthetic fertilizer supply chains, on-site production of organic fertilizer using mems could enhance farmers’ resilience and self-sufficiency. The mems also release nitrogen and other compounds that become available to plants, potentially improving crop yields and reducing the need for additional fertilizer inputs. As methane is a potent greenhouse gas, its reduction through the use of mems could potentially qualify farmers for carbon credits, providing another avenue for financial benefits.
With $37 million in total funding raised to date, including a recent $28 million Series A round, Windfall Bio is well-positioned to expand the deployment of its technology. The company’s inclusion in “TIME’s list of Best Inventions of 2024” further validates the potential impact of its methane-eating microbes. As Windfall Bio continues to scale up production and partner with various industries, farmers stand to benefit from this innovative approach to methane mitigation and sustainable agriculture. While mems show great promise, it’s important to note that the technology is still in the early stages of commercialization. Windfall Bio is currently testing its organic fertilizer and pursuing regulatory approvals. As such, long-term performance data compared to traditional fertilizers in various agricultural settings is still being gathered. You can learn more HERE (Sources: agriculturedive, agtechnavigator)