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Solein – Protein out of thin air

solein.com

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Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air

#91

Post by tambourine_man »

gus_massa wrote: post #33
tambourine_man wrote: post #13

I 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…

> These microorganisms are then able to make amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids (fats), and vitamins. * Carbohydrates are easy. (It's actually very difficult to "transform" light into sugar, but there are plenty of plants and bacteria that can do that. They are using Hydrogen instead of light, but so let's say it's "easy".) * Lipids are even easier. (I can't remember any technical problem here.) * Amino acids are dif…

> They are using Hydrogen instead of light

Yes, why? That’s the first question.

Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air

#92

Post by light_hue_1 »

washbrain wrote: post #49
Animats wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure it does. The competition is growing soybeans, which are really cheap. Are they going to beat that? Most of the high-tech food schemes produce some high-value product. This produces a very low value product. It's Hamburger Helper. Cost dominates.

The competition would be carbon neutral pesticide free soybeans, which I'm not sure are readily available? Soybeans also typically use energy intensive nitrogen fertilizers, which I'm not sure this process requires. (It might, not sure.) Also, soybeans need to be shipped from fertile areas. This could be produced in situ in infertile areas. I'm not saying it's a panacea, but it has some benefits over traditional inte…

> The competition would be carbon neutral pesticide free soybeans, which I'm not sure are readily available? Soybeans also typically use energy intensive nitrogen fertilizers, which I'm not sure this process requires. (It might, not sure.)

No it's not. This is the kind of thinking that so many new founders screw up with.

The competition is what users are willing to buy instead of you. That's regular soy beans, not whatever market you decide it should be. Don't think this way.

Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air

#93

Post by nixonpjoshua1 »

justinator wrote: post #89
feifan wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their other website[0] mentions nitrogen from the air. [0]: https://solarfoods.com/science/

That would be... Nobel Prize worthy at scale.

it was in 1918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process

Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air

#94

Post by k__ »

nixonpjoshua1 wrote: post #93
justinator wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be... Nobel Prize worthy at scale.

it was in 1918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process

"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.

Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air

#96

Post by juliangamble »

fabian2k wrote: post #74

> 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 fr…

I 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."

Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air

#97

Post by Karupan »

nixonpjoshua1 wrote: post #93
justinator wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be... Nobel Prize worthy at scale.

it was in 1918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process

Veritasium's recent video [0] on Haber is worth a watch in this context

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvknN89JoWo

Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air

#98

Post by outworlder »

knodi123 wrote: post #76
Animats wrote: post #24

Most 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 s…

> Most vegetation is made out of air and water. Mostly air. Most vegetation is water. Vegetables, at least, are about 90% water. https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/vegetables-high-in-water... So yeah, except for the water content, most of the molecular weight is atoms that come from air- but the water content is *HUGE*.

Most vegetation is not made out of vegetables :) Fruits and vegetables tend to have a very high water content, specially the ones we bred for human consumption.

Any random tree will have about 50% water and close to that amount in carbon, with trace amounts of other elements. That's less water than you and me.

Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air

#99

Post by nanomonkey »

justinator wrote: post #89
feifan wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their other website[0] mentions nitrogen from the air. [0]: https://solarfoods.com/science/

That would be... Nobel Prize worthy at scale.

Blue 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.

Re: Solein – Protein out of thin air

#100

Post by ClumsyPilot »

namuol wrote: post #12

From 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…

> proprietary bacteria harvested from nature

So which is it, proprietary or natural? You can't own something you didn't create.

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