Sounds way too dystopian to be trustworthy, and there's no explanation why I would even WANT to eat this.
Try to think how dystopian the meat industry feels to a vegetarian or vegan person.
That's the explanation.
Solein – Protein out of thin air
21–30 of 160 posts
Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air
#22From 2020, so not sure how up to date this is: “Solar Foods is a Finland-based start-up company that utilises CO2 captured from air, water and some minerals as sole raw materials to produce a protein powder using renewable electricity. Branded as Solein®, the product is a microbial protein (also referred to as single cell protein, SCP) obtained by growing proprietary bacteria harvested from nature, in specially desig…
Hmm, obviously cyanobacteria like Spirulina[1] "utilize CO2 captured from air" along with "water and some minerals" and sunlight to make sugars and proteins which people can eat. Not sure I'd describe that as 'fermentation' though if you do anything in a big vat it's a bioreactor and not just... a big vat, apparently.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirulina_(dietary_supplement)
Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air
#23>Seriously. Solein® is a unique single-cell protein made with a fully natural fermentation process. Using just air and electricity as its primary raw materials, Solein is the most sustainable protein in the world. so..... instead of "wasting" time in spending water and soil and fertilizer into making plants that use solar energy to create "food", we skip that step and just use electricity that is generated from solar…
The amino acid and lipid profiles of any single plant species are not sufficient to meet the full spectrum of human nutritional needs, so if they can do that with a single organism, it's a win. Also, most of the dry plant matter consists of cellulose that humans can't digest, so eliminating that is maybe a win? I don't know, because much of it can still be used as dietary fiber to nourish our gut microbiome, even though we can't use it for energy. I guess another factor is plants may only sprout whatever part of it we can eat seasonally, that is, seeds, roots, fruits, whatever it is may not be a permanent feature of every lifecycle stage.
Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air
#24Most vegetation is made out of air and water. Mostly air. C, O, and N come from air. H comes from water, and some of that comes from water in air. The inputs from dirt are under 5% of plant mass. They have to be, or farms would dig holes in the ground.
Feynman talk on this.[1]
So, with that out of the way, what does this company actually have?
* They have a cool web site with no useful info.
* They have another web site with useful info.[2]
* You can't even order samples of the product.
* They have a useful Wikipedia article.[3]
* It's a fermentation process, so it takes heat and water, not just air.
* They've been around since at least 2019 and have burned through about $20 million in funding.
* None of their PR discusses cost of the product.
[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/09/25/161753383/t...
Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air
#25This is the first time I’ve encountered the term “single-cell protein”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-cell_protein
The linked pages read as psuedo-science.
We’ve had recombinant stuff since the late-70s and 80s. For example, yeast are used for the production of human insulin among many other compounds.
Is the scale of production any different?
Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air
#26I need more details than that, but looks very interesting: “HOW SOLEIN IS MADE 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. These microorganisms are then able to make amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids (fats), and vitamin…
similarity of the name with soylent green
Remember Soylent, the company and product? They're still around, selling on Amazon.
Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air
#27Sounds way too dystopian to be trustworthy, and there's no explanation why I would even WANT to eat this.
If it's a more sustainable, cruelty-free source of protein than is currently available, and if it's safe, why not? There are multiple big "if" statements there, but should they all pass, I'd be all for it.
By using the term cruelty-free, are you describing dense, commercial feedlot animal production only, or are you including all types of animal husbandry and meat acquisition, including hunting?
Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air
#28>Seriously. Solein® is a unique single-cell protein made with a fully natural fermentation process. Using just air and electricity as its primary raw materials, Solein is the most sustainable protein in the world. so..... instead of "wasting" time in spending water and soil and fertilizer into making plants that use solar energy to create "food", we skip that step and just use electricity that is generated from solar…
New solar farms use panels that can achieve light-to-electricity efficiency over 20% [1]. Electrolytic splitting of water to produce hydrogen is about 80% efficient [2] for a combined efficiency of ~17%. Growing potatoes -- a calorie dense but not particularly protein rich crop -- converts only about 1.7% of sunlight to edible calories [3].
The intuition behind cultivating hydrogen oxidizing bacteria for single cell protein is that the coupled efficiency of solar photovoltaics plus electrolyzers can be an order of magnitude more productive per hectare for sunlight-to-protein than growing crops in fields. It doesn't require irrigation, weed control, pest control, tilling, or harvesters. It can use land that is too dry, rocky, hot, cold, or contaminated to grow crops. It's still an open question whether the output protein can be of a quality and price that it will out-compete e.g. conventionally grown soybeans, because despite all these advantages it is also much more capital intensive than growing beans.
I recently wrote a longer comment about hydrogen oxidizing bacteria as protein source that you might find interesting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32288926
[1] from e.g. Longi https://cdn.enfsolar.com/z/pp/t8gzz7lxx769/L-Gi-LE-T-TMD-059...
[2] https://www.quora.com/How-many-kWh-of-electricity-is-needed-...
[3] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/fes3.348
Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air
#29From 2020, so not sure how up to date this is: “Solar Foods is a Finland-based start-up company that utilises CO2 captured from air, water and some minerals as sole raw materials to produce a protein powder using renewable electricity. Branded as Solein®, the product is a microbial protein (also referred to as single cell protein, SCP) obtained by growing proprietary bacteria harvested from nature, in specially desig…
Hmm, obviously cyanobacteria like Spirulina[1] "utilize CO2 captured from air" along with "water and some minerals" and sunlight to make sugars and proteins which people can eat. Not sure I'd describe that as 'fermentation' though if you do anything in a big vat it's a bioreactor and not just... a big vat, apparently. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirulina_(dietary_supplement)
Also Spirulina in large doses is not kind to your stomach or your bathroom...
Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air
#30I need more details than that, but looks very interesting: “HOW SOLEIN IS MADE 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. These microorganisms are then able to make amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids (fats), and vitamin…
similarity of the name with soylent green Remember Soylent, the company and product? They're still around, selling on Amazon.
Other than some sanitation woes in their factory, they produce a decent product. I use it heavily when traveling since it's easy to get some soylent at my destination. No need to prep food or have a kitchen, reasonably balanced, tasty enough.