Posted on 07/31/2017 8:08:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Electric Bioreactor Farm
Finnish researchers have created a batch of single-cell protein that is nutritious enough to serve for dinner using a system powered by renewable energy. The entire process requires only electricity, water, carbon dioxide, and microbes. The synthetic food was created as part of the Food From Electricity project, which is a collaboration between Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
After exposing the raw materials to electrolysis in a bioreactor, the process forms a powder that consists of more than 50 percent protein and 25 percent carbohydrates the texture can also be changed by altering the microbes used in the production.
(DIAGRAM-AT-LINK)
The next stage, according to Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, principal scientist at VTT, is to optimize the system because, currently, a bioreactor the size of a coffee cup takes around two weeks to produce one gram of the protein. Pitkänen said in a LUT press release, We are currently focusing on developing the technology: reactor concepts, technology, improving efficiency, and controlling the process.
He predicted that it would take about a decade before a more efficient incarnation of the system would be widely available Maybe 10 years is a realistic timeframe for reaching commercial capacity, in terms of the necessary legislation and process technology.
A World Without Hunger
The potential impact of food produced using electricity and other widely available raw materials is enormous. Currently, there are two main ways that it could be used.
First, as a means of feeding starving people and providing a source of food in areas that are not suited to agricultural production. Pitkänen said that, in the future, the technology can be transported to, for instance, deserts and other areas facing famine, providing a source of cheap and nutritious food to those who need it most.
The machine also works independently of environmental factors, meaning that it could feed people consistently Jero Ahola, a Professor at LUT, said in the press release that it does not require a location with the conditions for agriculture, such as the right temperature, humidity or a certain soil type.
Second, as a means of decreasing global emissions by reducing the demand for food livestock and the crops necessary to feed them. Currently, the meat industry accounts for between 14 and 18 percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases, as well as taking up swarths of land that could be applied for other ends.
The food from electricity project could decrease the amount of unsustainable farming needed to fill our bellies as it provides us with a smaller, cheaper, and renewable method of getting our nutrients. Other solutions to this problem include lab-grown meat or turning to insect farming, which produces less waste and requires less energy.
You want fries with that?
“Sounds like they created typical no-taste vegan foo”
WHAT!” I have had vegan food in Shanghai that was stunning!. Depends on the chef,
The interesting question is whether the researchers are using naturally occurring or genetically engineered microbes. If the former, I hope someone is quick enough to make sure that this qualifies as "organic" and "process certified" and "locally produced." It would be fun to build a massive factory farm that mass produces and processes microbes, and plaster the product with every green label available. I hope Monsanto, the Koch brothers, and Exxon collaborate on this, just as payback.
The stuff doesn't have to taste good. Bland and tasteless is ok. Sell it in health food stores with the tofu; greenies like that sort of thing. For the rest of us, add enough onions, garlic, curry powder and a little ground beef, and it will probably do just fine as a nutritious food stretcher.
Good thing electricity is magic.
The title is TOTALLY misleading.
They did NOT make food “from” electricity.
They made from from MICROBES and WATER.
The USED electricity as a motive power in the operation but NOT as a SOURCE of the food. The main source the food came “from” was microbes. It was not electricity.
Had food actually been made “from” electricity, it would have to be a process that somehow converted the energy in electricity to matter. THAT did not happen. What was converted to food were microbes.
Something tells me they will have a hard time competing with sonic burgers.
something to take on a space voyage.
The food replicators from Star Trek
Bull.
Word, not world.
IBTFTLC
In Before The First Tastes Like Chicken (?)
LOL!
“The entire process requires only electricity, water, carbon dioxide, and microbes.”
We already make food from just seeds, water, carbon dioxide and sunlight. There are no benefits from using electricity and microbes. The chances of this process being cost effective or practical approach ZERO.
Sorry Jim - I meant to reply to All.
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