Page 63 - Plastics Nuews October 2017

TEChNoLoGy

Scientists cooking food from waste

magine a world where gas emitted from landfills can be Shaw. "That’s not easy, but we do have some ideas and are
Iturned into edible protein that ends up on your plate as working on it." For now, Calysta will use natural gas from
a burger or a steak That’s what scientists are hoping for. a pipeline at its $500 million Memphis, Tennessee facility
Calysta Inc. in California and String Bio in the Indian city instead of biogas. In May, the company received $40 million
of Bengaluru are among biotechnology firms that have in funding from investors and expects to start operating in
separately discovered ways to turn methane into protein. 2019, with the aim of having an annual capacity of 200,000
Bacteria found in soil are fed a liquid containing the gas, tons of protein. Global feed production broke above 1
sparking a fermentation process similar to making beer. billion tons, according to 2017 Alltech estimates. Mitsui
Instead of alcohol, protein is released into the water, & Co., one of the investors, saw a business opportunity
which is then dried into a brown powder. The product is given the growing demand for protein that can’t be met
already being used in animal feed, the first step toward through fishmeal, said Yuhei Saito, who oversees the nutri-
readying it for human consumption. The companies are science business at the Japanese trading house. String Bio
is still seeking funding from investors to commercialize its
technology, and is producing a few kilograms a month at its
pilot plant in Bengaluru. Local suppliers deliver canisters
of methane that’s fed to bacteria, which ferments to
produce wet protein clumps that are dried and sent to
poultry and fish farmers for testing.

"You just mix the protein with regular feed and feed
it to animals," said Subbian, a synthetic biologist who
worked on developing fuels and chemicals from plants.
"I envision us purifying it further where it could be ready
for human consumption."By creating food from waste
gas, the companies say they’ll be able to feed emerging
betting their products will help alleviate the strain of economies in Africa, South America and Asia, where arable
a growing global population on agricultural land and land and ocean resources are declining. By 2050, the world
oceans while natural gas prices trade near the lowest population is expected to surge to 9.6 billion, leading to a
level in almost two decades. String Bio, a start-up which 61 percent increase in food production, according to the
won $200,000 in Indian government grants, and Calysta, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
backed by investors including Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and The market for gas and fishmeal has also turned in favor
Cargill Inc., hope methane-made protein will become a of the scientists.
sustainable food of the future.
U.S. natural gas prices plummeted to $1.639 per million
"It’s way better to turn methane into food than burn it," British thermal units in March last year, the lowest level
said Calysta’s chief executive officer, Alan Shaw, a Menlo since 1999. It’s now trading at $2.931 as of 10:47 a.m.
Park-based chemist who led efforts to turn crop waste Tokyo time, still about 80 percent below the December
into fuels at his previous firm. "What better use for it 2005 peak. Meanwhile Peruvian fishmeal, a common
than to turn it into protein and put it into the human source of protein for livestock and shrimps, has more
food system, and take a lot of the pressure off?" Landfills, than doubled from a record low $373.16 a ton in June
sewage plants and farms all naturally produce methane 1993 to $1,092.07 a ton in June this year, according to
when organic matter decomposes, which can be captured data from the International Monetary Fund. "Natural gas is
and transported to a facility, said Ezhil Subbian, the co- transforming the world economy at the moment because
founder of String Bio in Bengaluru. Shaw says the amount of its relative cheapness to oil and other forms of carbon,"
of methane from such sources is too small to feed a large said Shaw. "You’re not going to stop people from using
plant economically at the moment but Calysta is working fishmeal, but you will be able to provide a sustainable
on “scaling down” its technology. Subbian is optimistic replacement." "We’d sell it to someone else who makes
that String Bio will be able to build plants using biogas it into a steak-like product, or a fish-like product, or
methane in the next five years. "We’re working on a way something like a tofu perhaps, that we could grill and
to essentially be economic, but at a smaller scale," said
eat," she said.

63 Octob er 2017 | Plastics News