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> Solein® is made from natural single-cell organisms, which are grown in a fermentation process. Water is split from the air with renewable electricity into hyd
by fabian2k 4y ago
> Solein® is made from natural single-cell organisms, which are grown in a fermentation process. Water is split from the air with renewable electricity into hydrogen and oxygen. The cells are fed CO2 from the air, hydrogen and mineral nutrients.
There is no nitrogen mentioned in this explanation. You cannot make amino acids or proteins without nitrogen. These organism either have to be able to do nitrogen-fixation from the air, which is a really difficult and energy-intensive process or the nitrogen has to come from some growth medium. It certainly doesn't make a good first impression that they "forgot" such an important part in this description.
In general the interesting part of such a scheme is how much energy it uses. Converting CO2 to organic molecules and nitrogen-fixation are very energy-intensive processes, the problem isn't that we can't do this but that the amount of energy is incredibly expensive compared to using photosynthesis in plants.
- feifan 4y agoTheir other website[0] mentions nitrogen from the air. [0]: https://solarfoods.com/science/ https://solarfoods.com/science/
- justinator 4y agoThat would be... Nobel Prize worthy at scale.
- nixonpjoshua1 4y agoit was in 1918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process
- k__ 4y ago"received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber–Bosch process," So, all good in HN land. Made my day, thanks.
- justinator 4y agoHe also invented Zyklon B.
- Karupan 4y agoVeritasium's recent video [0] on Haber is worth a watch in this context [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvknN89JoWo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvknN89JoWo
- nvahalik 4y agoThe book “The Alchemy of Air” is a fascinating read.
- conradev 4y agonowadays there is a lot of interest[1] in the older and less-efficient Birkeland–Eyde process because you can scale it to the size of a trailer and deploy it on-site to farms: https://www.nitricity.co/ https://www.nitricity.co/ [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8133363/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8133363/
- nanomonkey 4y agoBlue green algae (cyanobacteria) can fix nitrogen from the air. There are other symbiotic bacteria that do the same in nodules inside of plant's roots (like legumes). Not sure how this is Nobel Prize worthy. I've grown blue green algae and legumes at home.
- juliangamble 4y agoI think I've heard something similar in a science fiction movie... "It's a single celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs." ... "If you close your eyes, it almost feels like you're eating runny eggs." "Yeah, or a bowl of snot."
- baryphonic 4y ago"It's not 'everything the body needs'..." (eyeroll)
- ldoughty 4y agoI always took it as a list.... It has A, B, C, D... (Without the "and" before D, it is arguable -- especially for those that like clarity of language -- but people do sometimes drop the "and" in casual speech)
- bee_rider 4y agoSlightly confused as to what you guys disagree about, but I think it is a list where the listed elements provide the main examples and the final is a catch-all. Like if a mechanic said "We service Fords, Toyotas, Hondas, all the well known brands" it wouldn't imply that those three were the only major brands.
- fenomas 4y agoGP was quoting the next line in the movie, not disagreeing with GGP.
- baryphonic 4y agoOh, I was just quoting the next line of the movie.
- collegeburner 4y agoIt's got everything plants need!
- 4y ago