The start-up Humify has developed a technology that can reactivate soil as a carbon sink.
Hot and humid temperatures, no light, no air and then that intense odour: when the high-pressure cooker is fired up in the start-up Humify's laboratory, it is hard to imagine that under such conditions the resulting product – a kind of black liquid sludge – could help to influence climate change and the world's food supply.
Microbiologist Charles Uhlmann is testing the effects of various Humify products in combination with biostimulant bacteria on lettuce. This allows potential synergistic effects on yield and soil carbon sequestration to be investigated. © HUMIFY
Climate rescue as a business case: in Teltow, Brandenburg, a multidisciplinary team from the fields of chemistry, biology and engineering is working on a process that could enable cost-effective carbon capture. The idea: artificial humic substances are produced from organic waste at 200 degrees Celsius with a little pressure and water. Once introduced into the soil, humic substances bind moisture and valuable minerals, and thus promote a healthy ecosystem that attracts microorganisms. What is known as intestinal flora in humans is a busy group of helpers in the soil that make nutrients available to plants. Through their activity, they bind CO2 in the soil – and are therefore Humify's key to the climate solution.
Fighting climate change with green chemistry
It is thanks to bacteria that the soil has become the largest CO2 reservoir in the world. Unfortunately, humans have also made it the largest CO2 producer in the world. Deforestation, the drying out of moors and intensive industrial agriculture have all contributed to a decline in the CO2 storage capacity of soils and the increasing release of emissions due to the destruction of microorganisms. "If left to do so naturally, these areas would take up to 3,000 years to renature. This timeframe can be significantly accelerated using the hydrothermal process: enriched with certain microbacteria, the superhumus is produced in just a few weeks and makes the soil fertile again," enthuses Humify co-founder and CFO Harald Pinger.
Markus Antonietti, director at the MPI of Colloids and Interfaces. © SEBASTIAN ROST
However, the technology is not new. The German chemist Friedrich Bergius was already working on high-pressure processes in 1913. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1931 for his Bergius-Pier process, which made it possible to produce synthetic fuels independently of crude oil. It is thanks to Markus Antonietti that, 90 years later, fuel production could be turned into a method of soil improvement that could also solve the world's food problem. He is Director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG) in Potsdam-Golm. During an experiment in his laboratory, which he affectionately refers to as his "kitchen", he discovered that a change in the chemical processes in the hydrothermal process produces polymers in a very short time. These are similar to natural polymers – highly complex molecules in which carbon is bound. "The second, even bigger surprise, however," says the researcher, "was that the bacteria in the soil react to the artificial polymers." The idea for Humify was born. When it comes to binding large quantities of CO2, the scales for soils are huge: "One tonne of humic substances per hectare binds up to 50 tonnes of carbon in the soil, all in the first year, because our product stimulates the organisms in the soil," reports Antonietti. And he adds: "In a few years, agriculture will have to feed ten billion people – and that with increasingly poor soil quality. A quick and sustainable soil improvement comes at just the right moment. This is because Humify humus increases crop yields in Chinese field trials by up to 20 per cent. And we still have to overcome the climate crisis."
The circle closes
Andreas Dittes, Svitlana Filonenko, and Harald Pinger (from left to right), are committed to making Humify a success. © HUMIFY
The scientist Markus Antonietti meets Harald Pinger at a ScienceTech event. The experienced manager has been investing in promising start-ups for some time now. He realises how efficient and simple Antonietti's method of binding carbon is to use. Together with Andreas Dittes, a serial entrepreneur from the green tech sector, they founded Humify GmbH, based in Potsdam, in 2023. For Pinger, Humify humus is "the perfect example of how a sustainable impact can be achieved by combining science and business." As a former CEO and CFO of large, listed companies, Pinger is particularly interested in cost-effectiveness and scalable solutions. He sees a lot of potential in Humify, because when humus becomes a really good fertiliser, the industrial agricultural sector will sit up and take notice. "Agriculture produces a lot of biomass per hectare of land, which is already being utilized in biogas plants. The resulting fermentation residues could be further processed into humus in a Humify plant, ideally right next to the energy production, and made available to the agricultural sector for removal in the shortest possible time. In turn, they can apply the superhumus to their harvested areas in a timely manner," says Pinger, outlining the business model. The circular economy par excellence.
“Under pressure”
The manufacturing process should also follow the principle of the circular economy. However, the team faces a number of challenges in turning the laboratory experiment with the pressure cooker principle into industrial mass production. So far, Humify has only produced small quantities of humus, but the actual demand is much higher. Antonietti thinks in global dimensions: "Two billion hectares of arable land actually need two billion tonnes of humic substances." But even on a smaller, regional scale, Humify needs production facilities that can convert large quantities of biomass into humus in order for the company to be profitable. However, such large devices are not yet available on the market. The engineers are therefore working at full speed on a completely new technology. They already have a patent on which they can build. An initial pilot plant for 3,000 tonnes of Humify output per year is being planned. "We are now working on a clever solution to minimize energy consumption when heating up and cooling down the biomass," reports Svitlana Filonenko, chemist and CTO of Humify. For the market-focused Pinger, these objectives are of crucial importance: "If we can produce artificial humic substances with suitable heat management, we will be competitive." This is in stark contrast to other carbon capture ideas, which have so far failed mainly due to the costs involved.
When Antonietti asked his research assistant Filonenko if she would like to contribute her scientific expertise to a new start-up that aims to help improve soil health and support regenerative agricultural practices, she didn't hesitate for a second. In the six years that she worked as a group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Filonenko's research focused on understanding the transformation of organic substances. Today, she particularly loves "the freedom that comes with working in a start-up. Many scientists would like to use their research to do something about the climate crisis, but often their ideas do not make it to the application stage. When I heard that Humify was taking the step into the real world, I was electrified. It's meaningful work," she says, adding: "But you have to be prepared to take risks." Her dream is to eventually reach even remote farms with mobile Humify systems. This would also eliminate the need to transport biomass to and from the site, as it would be fed back into the agricultural cycle directly on site.
With hydrothermal humification, a wide variety of starting materials can be turned into humus-rich products. The method is flexible and wellsuited to processing many types of organic waste and leftover materials. © HUMIFY
