Precision Fermentation

[eclipse]

Hi all,

does anyone have any friends in biotech - especially fermenting?

I'd love to get their feedback on PF. I've been a fan of the idea for a while, but am hearing disturbing news from some in the industry that there are problems bringing it to scale. Any ideas or contacts? Because I'm copying in my usual cut and paste RAVE about what it might mean IF we can bring it up to scale and get the costs down. (Scale is the issue - fermentation processes just don't seem to like the big super-tank idea. We're fighting nature according to some.)

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Precision Fermentation is a way of brewing up all the proteins and fats we want from a tiny area. They use solar panels to split water, and then feed hydrogen to special bacteria. This stuff ferments and then food techs turn it into chicken tenders and bacon strips!

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/24/green-technology-precision-fermentation-farming

It means instead of using our best arable land for growing soy beans (or worse, grazing cattle!), we can use solar panels on rooftops, floating on water reservoirs, and even in our deserts. It means vastly more food from vastly less land. And as it scales up it will eventually bankrupt livestock grazing. This will return 2 billion hectares back to nature, regrowing 3 trillion trees which will soak up so much carbon as they grow it will solve climate change. That’s humanity fed and nature thriving! See George Monbiot - 6 minutes. youtu.be/6eaTIe_TBZA

[huon]

Nov 13, 2023 11:21:39 GMT 9.5 eclipse said:

Hi all,

does anyone have any friends in biotech - especially fermenting?

I'd love to get their feedback on PF. I've been a fan of the idea for a while, but am hearing disturbing news from some in the industry that there are problems bringing it to scale. Any ideas or contacts? Because I'm copying in my usual cut and paste RAVE about what it might mean IF we can bring it up to scale and get the costs down. (Scale is the issue - fermentation processes just don't seem to like the big super-tank idea. We're fighting nature according to some.)

----

Precision Fermentation is a way of brewing up all the proteins and fats we want from a tiny area. They use solar panels to split water, and then feed hydrogen to special bacteria. This stuff ferments and then food techs turn it into chicken tenders and bacon strips!

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/24/green-technology-precision-fermentation-farming

It means instead of using our best arable land for growing soy beans (or worse, grazing cattle!), we can use solar panels on rooftops, floating on water reservoirs, and even in our deserts. It means vastly more food from vastly less land. And as it scales up it will eventually bankrupt livestock grazing. This will return 2 billion hectares back to nature, regrowing 3 trillion trees which will soak up so much carbon as they grow it will solve climate change. That’s humanity fed and nature thriving! See George Monbiot - 6 minutes. youtu.be/6eaTIe_TBZA

eclipse-- Precision fermenting is fascinating. I have no inside knowledge about this technology, but I did do a little searching on the internet. Here an article featuring a very knowledgeable insider from an Australian startup--I think you'll find the report interesting.

Cauldron raises AUS $10.5m to expand precision fermentation platform using 'smaller, smarter, cheaper' continuous process
Elaine Watson
29 Mar 2023
AgFunder News
agfundernews.com/cauldron-raises-7m-to-expand-precision-fermentation-platform

[eclipse]

Wow!

In a traditional batch process, microbes proliferate until they reach critical mass in a fermentation tank and are then triggered to start producing a target molecule via a change in the media. The batch is then completed, the ingredient extracted, the tank is cleaned, and the whole process starts all over again.



Cauldron, however, has found a way to maintain microbes in a productive state, and then feed them into ancillary vessels where they start expressing the target molecules, said Stansfield.


“This continuous process enables a five-times increase in the amount of product we’re able to get out of a fermenter, Ultimately, what that means is we can build a 100,000-liter biomass reactor that will put out more product than a 500,000-liter batch fermentation line.”

If they can do this - if PF can become a dominant thing - it will help not only create a sustainable climate here, but could help the space program and settling Mars!