Dr. Lisa Dyson is an award-winning research physicist and strategy consultant. She is the co-founder of Air Protein. Alternatives of meat seem to be taking the world by storm with plant-based products as substitutes being considered as the future. Air Protein takes this initiative one step further by providing a substitute for meat by using microbes that convert CO2 present in the air into amino acids. This conversion results in a type of flour that can be used to make meatless products. This provides not only a solution for an alternate meat solution but is also a carbon negative that benefits the environment by taking in the abundant CO2 from the air and making it into a useful product.
Air Protein derives its idea from research conducted in NASA in the 1960s. They were trying to find ways to allow the astronauts to make up their own food on space visits. In this search, they came across these microbes, the hydrogentrophs, that acted on the CO2 to convert it into protein under suitable conditions. Though they credit the discovery made by NASA, the actual process is way more complicated than revealed, it is claimed to be the most sustainable way to produce protein in today’s age. The plants take up lesser space than both cattle farming and plant grazing. They also make use of renewable energy resources for the process which makes it more cheaper and sustainable than any other meat alternative. As the most important inputs for this process are the CO2 present abundantly in the air and the energy required for the fermentation process. As they are making use of renewable resources, this makes it easy as they are becoming cheaper and readily available.
Another added benefit is the production time which is just a few days in terms of Air Protein’s flour as compared to plant-based which may take a few months or cattle protein which takes up to years to raise. The company seems to be very confident that in today’s age and time, this product will serve a huge majority of consumers. The only important facet is making this product up to the consumer’s expectations which it believes itself to be.
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