The ingredients: one serve of carbon dioxide, high voltage. Now wait for a few weeks and enjoy a meal of single-cell protein. This could be the culinary feat of the future.
Scientists in Finland claim they have successfully created food out of thin air by using only using electricity, CO2 and a few added microbes. By mixing the ingredients into a coffee-cup-sized bioreactor and supplying an electric shock, they were able to create a powder that is around 50 per cent protein and 25 per cent carbohydrates, with the rest being fat and nucleic acid, Quartz reported.
While it is not yet ready for human consumption it could, however, provide an alternate source for animal fodder. This in turn would help reduce strain on crops. This also may help keep meat affordable as the world’s crops come under increasing pressure
The researchers said the Food from Electricity programme is 10 times more energy efficient than the photosynthesis of plants. This early-stage research could pave a path toward a solution to cheaply feed hungry populations without massive land use. The UN estimates that about 795 million people in the world suffer from chronic undernourishment.
In the long run the protein “reactors” also have the potential to create the building blocks of meals aboard long-duration space flights and as a rapid-response counters o famine, the report said.
“In practice, all the raw materials are available from the air,” said Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, principal scientist at VTT. “In the future, the technology can be transported to, for instance, deserts and other areas facing famine. One possible alternative is a home reactor, a type of domestic appliance the consumer can use to produce the needed protein.”
Work in progress
- The energy efficiency of the process is reported to be 10 times better than photosynthesis. But plenty of work remains to be done to make it commercially viable.
- At the moment, the experimental coffee-machine-sized benchtop facilities take about a fortnight to zap into existence one gram of protein powder.
