Amino acids (lysine, methionine): Emissions

Maize farms or petrochemicals: where the footprint lies

What this tab covers The greenhouse-gas footprint per tonne, split by lifecycle phase (feedstock, production, movement, use, end of life), the global total, other environmental impacts, levers and low-carbon routes, India's position, and where the investment opportunity lies.

Per t of amino acid, cradle-to-gate. Intensity: not published. Global total: not published.

Footprint by lifecycle phase

Phase	Intensity	Share	Main sources of emissions	Notes	Source
Feedstock	not published	–	maize farming (fertiliser N2O, diesel) for lysine; propylene, methanol and gas for methionine	about 2 t of maize per t of lysine HCl (indicative)	indicative
Production / process	not published	–	aeration power, steam and drying; coal-fired energy in north-east China (indicative)		indicative
Movement	small	–	container shipping from China		indicative
Use	net reduction in effect (not quantified here)	–	lower-protein diets cut soymeal demand and nitrogen excretion, which reduces manure N2O and ammonia	benefit depends on displaced soymeal and its land-use footprint	indicative
End of life	not applicable	–	metabolised by animals		not applicable

Other environmental impacts

Fermentation wastewater and odour; HCN and acrolein process safety at methionine plants; reduced nitrogen run-off in use.

Levers to cut emissions

Renewable power and biomass or electric steam at Chinese fermentation plants (indicative)
Higher-yield strains to cut maize per tonne
Precision feeding to cut crude protein by a few points (indicative)
Fermentation routes to methionine that avoid HCN (CJ-Arkema, indicative)

India

India's poultry feed uses imported amino acids, so their footprint sits in China and Europe. Domestic lysine from Indian maize with renewable steam could cut both import dependence and footprint (indicative).

Emission figures are indicative global averages from the life-cycle studies named; actual footprints vary widely by site, energy mix and method.

Low-carbon routes

Route	Intensity	Cost premium	Status	Source
Bio-based L-methionine	not published	not published	CJ and Arkema plant in Malaysia (indicative)	indicative

For a climate investor Amino acids are a climate lever in use rather than in production: they cut soymeal demand and manure nitrogen per kg of meat. A climate fund's angle in India is import substitution, linking Indian maize and sugar to fermentation with renewable energy. What has to be true: cost parity with Chinese plants that run at about RMB 7,000/t cash cost, or trade defence. Chinese majors (Meihua, Fufeng, CJ) set the bar.