On top of the other points I mentioned (such as sourcing this from emissions which are hard to avoid creating) + raised by Yogthos and other people, I’ll add that coal can be stored pretty much indefinitely, and using coal for methanol/ethanol/protein (whatever the applications are) like this instead of boosting agricultural production saves energy in its own right, even it ultimately releases more carbon.
I don’t think anyone is actually saying get in the pod and eat the coal. As funny as it sounds
the problem i have w that is the methanol synthesized can be used in further synthesis, rather than as feedstock. we have enough agriculture to feed the world, there’s just a distribution problem. this coal to methanol to protein process will just go to feeding livestock, sustaining industrial torture/murder and increasing pollution. methanol could be used in other processes (as solvent or reagent) that have better value. plants make protein from solar energy, we don’t need to waste carbon that’s already been fixed to make more protein just to create more cattle to torture and eat
Oh come on don’t do the vegan nihilism thing, you could even say increased grain production is used to fuel animal farming. That doesn’t mean agricultural technology isn’t exciting.
Methanol is used for lots of stuff I think it eventually goes into plastic yeah it’s exciting.
Do you mean chemical feedstock or animal feed?
This could also be a source of protein for mushrooms or insects (yum), or maybe they can find a way to process this into stuff for agriculture. Finding this pathway is just part of engineering more crazy Yellowstone/Mariana Trench microbes.
I’m sure I’m ignorant of potential industrial grade protein applications
according to the article, the use of this protein production is as animal feed. i used feedstock in the sense that methanol is a biochemical feedstock— “food” for bacteria.
I hope there isn’t some kind of forthcoming possible scenario where humanity has to survive in a pinch with less arable farmland, in that event we’d surely be able to rely on the nations of the world to share protein in a crisis?
Sorry was the comment about producing smoke and syngas and stuff too incoherent? Because you can harvest biomass without logging & it’s much more carbon neutral.
Directly trapping unavoidable emissions like coke for steel & turning them into methanol then increasing the applications of that with fermentation or substituting other methanol sources (which can be carbon intensive afaik) just seems like a net good.
I’m just saying it has a famine relief purpose so you don’t have to let livestock just die if there’s like a brief but manageable nuclear winter? I realize these are insane burger fantasies
if we’re not looking for a problem to have with the creation of the technology, it is quite literally like you could take wood that was harvested from Kopásek that is to say new wood that is not like petrochemicals from an older carbon cycle, but something is rapidly pulled out of the air by trees. You can literally just keep coming off the smaller branches of trees then you can burn that and turn it in the woods gas. The one gas from this can be made in the methanol by this bacteria, which, then it can be fermented directly into proteins. The fuck in Chinese have invented alchemy, said let’s eat trees and rocks. apologies for any dictation errors.
On top of the other points I mentioned (such as sourcing this from emissions which are hard to avoid creating) + raised by Yogthos and other people, I’ll add that coal can be stored pretty much indefinitely, and using coal for methanol/ethanol/protein (whatever the applications are) like this instead of boosting agricultural production saves energy in its own right, even it ultimately releases more carbon.
I don’t think anyone is actually saying get in the pod and eat the coal. As funny as it sounds
the problem i have w that is the methanol synthesized can be used in further synthesis, rather than as feedstock. we have enough agriculture to feed the world, there’s just a distribution problem. this coal to methanol to protein process will just go to feeding livestock, sustaining industrial torture/murder and increasing pollution. methanol could be used in other processes (as solvent or reagent) that have better value. plants make protein from solar energy, we don’t need to waste carbon that’s already been fixed to make more protein just to create more cattle to torture and eat
Oh come on don’t do the vegan nihilism thing, you could even say increased grain production is used to fuel animal farming. That doesn’t mean agricultural technology isn’t exciting.
Methanol is used for lots of stuff I think it eventually goes into plastic yeah it’s exciting.
Do you mean chemical feedstock or animal feed?
This could also be a source of protein for mushrooms or insects (yum), or maybe they can find a way to process this into stuff for agriculture. Finding this pathway is just part of engineering more crazy Yellowstone/Mariana Trench microbes.
I’m sure I’m ignorant of potential industrial grade protein applications
according to the article, the use of this protein production is as animal feed. i used feedstock in the sense that methanol is a biochemical feedstock— “food” for bacteria.
I hope there isn’t some kind of forthcoming possible scenario where humanity has to survive in a pinch with less arable farmland, in that event we’d surely be able to rely on the nations of the world to share protein in a crisis?
😶
we don’t have infinite coal tho
😑 Duly noted.
Also far more likely than nuclear winter is food sanctions + climate change
Sorry was the comment about producing smoke and syngas and stuff too incoherent? Because you can harvest biomass without logging & it’s much more carbon neutral.
Directly trapping unavoidable emissions like coke for steel & turning them into methanol then increasing the applications of that with fermentation or substituting other methanol sources (which can be carbon intensive afaik) just seems like a net good.
STRATEGIC EDIBLE COAL RESERVES
I’m just saying it has a famine relief purpose so you don’t have to let livestock just die if there’s like a brief but manageable nuclear winter? I realize these are insane burger fantasies
if we’re not looking for a problem to have with the creation of the technology, it is quite literally like you could take wood that was harvested from Kopásek that is to say new wood that is not like petrochemicals from an older carbon cycle, but something is rapidly pulled out of the air by trees. You can literally just keep coming off the smaller branches of trees then you can burn that and turn it in the woods gas. The one gas from this can be made in the methanol by this bacteria, which, then it can be fermented directly into proteins. The fuck in Chinese have invented alchemy, said let’s eat trees and rocks. apologies for any dictation errors.
*coppicing https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/09/how-to-make-biomass-energy-sustainable-again.html