Food can be now produced with artificial sunlight

A group of scientists at the University of California has a way to grow food with no natural sunlight with artificial photosynthesis.

 Highlights

• According to a study, artificial sunlight can produce food in plants.
• It is a way to bypass the need for biological photosynthesis altogether.
• It is a two-step electrocatalytic process.
• Food-producing organisms consume acetate in the dark and grow food. 

A group of scientists at the University of California has found a way to produce food with no natural sunlight with artificial photosynthesis. It is done by an electrocatalytic process to change water, carbon dioxide and electricity into acetate. These food-processing organisms consume acetate and grow crops. This hybrid system can increase the efficiency to convert food 18 times.

For millions of years, photosynthesis evolves to turn water, carbon dioxide and energy from sunlight into plant biomass and food. However, this process is inefficient with only 1% of the energy in sunlight ending up in the plant. Scientists at UC Riverside & the University of Delaware have found a way to evade the need for natural photosynthesis and use artificial photosynthesis.

The paper in Nature Food uses a two-step electrocatalytic process converting water, electricity but also carbon dioxide into acetate. Acetate is the main component of vinegar.  To combine all the components of the system, the output optimizes to support the growth of food processing organisms. Electrolyzers are devices that use electricity to convert raw materials into useful molecules and products. 

The number of salt increases as acetate increases, resulting in the highest amount of acetate ever in an electrolyzer. 

 Food using this technology

In the experiment, green algae, yeast, and fungal mycelium produce mushrooms that can grow in the dark on the electrolyzer output. Production of red algae with this technology is 4-fold more energy-efficient. Yeast production is eighteen-fold more energy-efficient than how it cultivates using sugar from corn. 

This technology has the potential of growing crops as well as investigation is going on. when made in the dark, cowpea, tomato, tobacco, rice, green pea, as well as canola, were able to utilize carbon to acetate. 

To conclude, this process is groundbreaking. This can have a longing effect in the field of farming and also agriculture. Countless opportunities open for growing crops under difficult conditions due to climate change by liberating agriculture from complete dependence on the sun. 

drought, floods and reduced farmlands would be less threatening to global food security if crops can grow in less resource-intensive, controlled environments. Crops can even be grown in areas unsuitable for agriculture, as well as for future space explorers. 

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