|
a
|
PRODUCING FOOD-PROTEIN-ON A LARGE INDUSTRIAL SCALE
To use inorganic substances like hydrogen and carbon dioxide to synthesize organic materials-protein in the end. The organisms capable of doing that are a type of bacteria. The bacterial strain most widely studied is known as HYDROGENOMONAS (Alcaligenes Eutrophus). These organisms use hydrogen as an energy source, and simple minerals from fertilizers to produce protein-rich cellular material—a spongy, whitish substance in appearance.
Marchetti explained in his 1970 Cornell lecture:
::Chlorophyll is the keystone of the process. Energy from light’s photons is accumulated by this phosphor and transferred into ATP. But when an organism oxidizes an energetic substrate, be it sugar or hydrogen, the result is the same. With ATP, the function of chlorophyll is taken up by enzymes. The privileged position of chlorophyll is given by the fact that it is coupled by primary-primary source of energy, the sun. ::
… high multiplication rate of these microorganisms. HYDROGENOMONAS has a weight-doubling period of two to three hours. This can be done through solar similar to the beer-brewing process.
Research got a boost in the early sixties in the US when NASA began to study prospects of producing proteins on board of spacecraft for long space missions utilizing CO2 and mineral salts produced by the astronauts. The idea was to employ electricity used by the solar cells to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water supplies on board in a permanent cycle. Two researchers from Battelle Memorial Institute, Foster & Litchfield presented their concept of a continuous-culture machine using hydrogen for protein production aboard a spaceship in 1964 at the national meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Pittsburg. They said in their summary that the, “harvested bacterial substance in high in protein which contains all the essential amino acids.”
In Germany, a team headed by Hans Gunter Schlegel at the Institute for Microbiology of Gottingen University has been investigating properties of Hydrogenomonas, initially for more academic purposes since the 1950’s. independently of the NASA efforts, Schlegel and his team looked into the idea of a closed-loop life-support system for future long-term space missions, involving the use of protein-producing bacteria. But when the global food-supply implications of these bacteria became apparent, Schlegel beagn to intensify his efforts.
Starting with small culture dishes, the Gottingen team produced protein in so-called fermenter tanks of up to 200 liters in size, testing different growth solutions and examining nutritional value and digestibility of different types of bacteria. Some researches were concerned mostly with protein production, while others looked more at genetic manipulation of the hydrogen-devouring strains in an effort to come up with more efficient mutants. “Basically, molecular hydrogen is not an unusual source of energy for living beings,”
::All living organisms derive the energy necessary for the construction of their cell substance and to maintain their life functions from the reaction between H and O. Man as well derives his metabolic energy from the slow combustion of H. in other words, from the so-called “Knallgas” reaction although he is not being offered H in its gaseous state as nourishment, but rather as part of his foodstuffs in which it is weakly bonded to carbon. Metabolic energy is not being released through the combustion of carbonbut primarily through the oxidation of hydrogen contained in the foodstuffs. The product of burning hydrogen is water. ::
|
070405
|
