” With our method we sought to recognize a brand-new method of producing food that could break through the limits usually enforced by biological photosynthesis,” stated corresponding author Robert Jinkerson, a UC Riverside assistant teacher of chemical and ecological engineering.
In order to integrate all the elements of the system together, the output of the electrolyzer was optimized to support the growth of food-producing organisms. Electrolyzers are devices that utilize electrical energy to convert basic materials like carbon dioxide into helpful particles and items. The quantity of acetate produced was increased while the quantity of salt used was decreased, leading to the greatest levels of acetate ever produced in an electrolyzer to date.
” Using a modern two-step tandem CO2 electrolysis setup established in our lab, we had the ability to accomplish a high selectivity towards acetate that can not be accessed through conventional CO2 electrolysis routes,” said corresponding author Feng Jiao at University of Delaware.
Experiments showed that a large variety of food-producing organisms can be grown in the dark straight on the acetate-rich electrolyzer output, including green algae, yeast, and fungal mycelium that produce mushrooms. Making algae with this innovation is approximately fourfold more energy effective than growing it photosynthetically. Yeast production is about 18-fold more energy efficient than how it is normally cultivated using sugar extracted from corn.
” We were able to grow food-producing organisms without any contributions from biological photosynthesis. Typically, these organisms are cultivated on sugars originated from plants or inputs stemmed from petroleum– which is an item of biological photosynthesis that occurred millions of years ago. This innovation is a more effective technique of turning solar energy into food, as compared to food production that depends on biological photosynthesis,” stated Elizabeth Hann, a doctoral prospect in the Jinkerson Lab and co-lead author of the research study.
The capacity for utilizing this technology to grow crop plants was likewise investigated. Cowpea, tomato, tobacco, rice, canola, and green pea were all able to utilize carbon from acetate when cultivated in the dark.
” We found that a vast array of crops might take the acetate we offered and build it into the major molecular structure blocks an organism needs to grow and thrive. With some breeding and engineering that we are presently working on we might be able to grow crops with acetate as an additional energy source to increase crop yields,” stated Marcus Harland-Dunaway, a doctoral candidate in the Jinkerson Lab and co-lead author of the research study.
By liberating farming from total dependence on the sun, artificial photosynthesis unlocks to numerous possibilities for growing food under the significantly hard conditions enforced by anthropogenic environment change. Drought, floods, and minimized land schedule would be less of a hazard to global food security if crops for people and animals grew in less resource-intensive, regulated environments. Crops could also be grown in cities and other areas presently unsuitable for farming, and even provide food for future space explorers.
” Using synthetic photosynthesis approaches to produce food could be a paradigm shift for how we feed people. By increasing the efficiency of food production, less land is required, decreasing the impact agriculture has on the environment. And for farming in non-traditional environments, like deep space, the increased energy effectiveness could help feed more team members with less inputs,” said Jinkerson.
This approach to food production was sent to NASAs Deep Space Food Challenge where it was a Phase I winner. The Deep Space Food Challenge is a global competitors where rewards are awarded to groups to produce game-changing and novel food innovations that need minimal inputs and maximize safe, healthy, and tasty food outputs for long-duration area missions.
” Imagine sooner or later giant vessels growing tomato plants in the dark and on Mars– how much easier would that be for future Martians?” stated co-author Martha Orozco-Cárdenas, director of the UC Riverside Plant Transformation Research Center.
Reference: “A hybrid inorganic– biological synthetic photosynthesis system for energy-efficient food production” by Elizabeth C. Hann, Sean Overa, Marcus Harland-Dunaway, Andrés F. Narvaez, Dang N. Le, Martha L. Orozco-Cárdenas, Feng Jiao and Robert E. Jinkerson, 23 June 2022, Nature Food.DOI: 10.1038/ s43016-022-00530-x.
Andres Narvaez, Dang Le, and Sean Overa likewise added to the research. The open-access paper is entitled “A hybrid inorganic– biological synthetic photosynthesis system for energy-efficient food production.”.
The research study was supported by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) through NASA (NNX16AO69A), Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), the Link Foundation, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The content of this publication is solely the duty of the authors and does not necessarily represent the main views of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.
This technology is a more efficient method of turning solar energy into food, as compared to food production that relies on biological photosynthesis,” stated Elizabeth Hann, a doctoral candidate in the Jinkerson Lab and co-lead author of the study.
By liberating farming from total dependence on the sun, synthetic photosynthesis opens the door to many possibilities for growing food under the significantly tough conditions enforced by anthropogenic climate modification.” Using synthetic photosynthesis methods to produce food could be a paradigm shift for how we feed individuals.
Plants are growing in complete darkness in an acetate medium that replaces biological photosynthesis. Credit: Marcus Harland-Dunaway/UCR
Synthetic photosynthesis is being established by researchers to help make food production more energy-efficient in the world, and possibly one day on Mars.
For millions of years, photosynthesis has actually progressed in plants to turn water, co2, and the energy from sunlight into plant biomass and the foods we eat. Nevertheless, this process is really inefficient, with just around 1% of the energy found in sunshine ending up in the plant. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Delaware have actually found a way to bypass the requirement for biological photosynthesis entirely and produce food independent of sunshine by utilizing synthetic photosynthesis.
The brand-new research, released on June 23, 2022, in the journal Nature Food, uses a two-step electrocatalytic process to transform carbon dioxide, electrical energy, and water into acetate, the type of the primary element of vinegar. Food-producing organisms then take in acetate in the dark to grow. Integrated with photovoltaic panels to create electrical energy to power the electrocatalysis, this hybrid organic-inorganic system could increase the conversion efficiency of sunlight into food, approximately 18 times more efficient for some foods.
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Delaware have discovered a way to bypass the need for biological photosynthesis completely and develop food independent of sunlight by using synthetic photosynthesis.
Combined with solar panels to produce electricity to power the electrocatalysis, this hybrid organic-inorganic system might increase the conversion effectiveness of sunlight into food, up to 18 times more effective for some foods.
