Plants have evolved for millions of years to turn water, carbon dioxide, and the energy from sunlight into food and fuel. The process is very inefficient and only a small amount of the energy found in sunlight ends up in the plant. Artificial photosynthesis can be used to create food that is not dependent on sunlight.
The research used a two-step process to convert carbon dioxide, electricity, and water into a form of vinegar. Food- producing organisms consume a substance in the dark. The hybrid organic-inorganic system could increase the conversion efficiency of sunlight into food by up to 18 times.
Robert Jinkerson, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering, said that they sought to identify a new way of producing food that could break through the limits of biological photosynthesis.
To support the growth of food- producing organisms, the output of the lyzer was adjusted. Electricity is used to convert carbon dioxide into useful molecule and products. While the amount of salt used was decreased, the amount of acetate produced was increased, which resulted in the highest levels of acetate ever produced in an electricallyzer.
The University of Delaware has developed a state-of-the-art two-step tandem CO 2 electrolysis setup that is able to achieve a high selectivity towards acetate that can't be achieved through conventional CO 2 electrolysis routes.
Green algae, yeast, and mycelium can be grown in the dark if you use the right equipment. It is four times more energy efficient to grow algae with this technology. It is 18 times more energy efficient to cultivate yeast than it is to cultivate corn yeast.
We were able to grow organisms that could produce food. These organisms are usually grown on sugars derived from plants or inputs derived from oil, which is a product of biological photosynthesis that took place millions of years ago. Elizabeth Hann is a PhD candidate in the Jinkerson Lab and co-lead author of the study.
This technology could be used to grow crop plants. When grown in the dark, cowpea, tomato, tobacco, rice, canola, and green pea were all able to use carbon from the same substance.
A wide range of crops were able to take the acetate we provided and build it into the major building blocks an organisms needs to grow and thrive. "With some breeding and engineering that we are currently working on, we might be able to grow crops with acetate as an extra energy source to boost crop yields," said Marcus Harland-Dunaway, a PhD candidate in the Jinkerson Lab.
Artificial photosynthesis opens the door to many possibilities for growing food under the difficult conditions imposed by climate change. If crops for humans and animals were grown in less resource-intensive environments, the threat to global food security would be less. Crops could be grown in cities and other areas that are not suitable for agriculture.
Artificial photosynthesis can be used to produce food, which could be a paradigm shift. Less land is needed in order to increase the efficiency of food production. Jinkerson said that increased energy efficiency can help feed more crew members with less inputs.
The approach to food production was submitted to the Deep Space Food Challenge and won the first phase. The Deep Space Food Challenge is an international competition where prizes are awarded to teams to create novel and game-changing food technologies that require minimal inputs and maximize safe, healthy, and palatable food outputs for long-term space missions.
"Imagine someday giant vessels growing tomato plants in the dark and on Mars, how much easier would that be for future Martians?" asked co-author Martha Orozco-Crdenas.
More information: Elizabeth C. Hann et al, A hybrid inorganic–biological artificial photosynthesis system for energy-efficient food production, Nature Food (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00530-x Journal information: Nature Food
All Rights Reserved © 2024
