Food straight out of the air: a startup has created butter from CO₂, hydrogen and oxygen — as good as regular butter

The American startup Savor produces butter from carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, which is identical in molecular structure to traditional butter.

The technology involves carbon capture from oxygen and combine with hydrogen and oxygen in thermochemical reactions. The resulting fats are molecularly identical to those in traditional butter. Bakeries that have tried the new product claim that it tastes like butter.

Pros information ABC7, at least one California bakery is already using the oil to make its own bread and croissants. According to the owner of the Starter Bakery in Berkeley Brian Wood, the texture of the unusual butter turned out to be suitable for baking, and the products became very popular.

Savor is a startup funded by billionaire entrepreneur Bill Gates. The company and the entrepreneur worked together to create dairy-free ice cream, cheese, and milk.

The technology for creating the unusual butter involves capturing carbon from oxygen and extracting hydrogen from water. Under conditions of high temperature and pressure, chemical reactions produce alkanes, or simple hydrocarbon chains. Subsequently, these alkanes form fatty acids through the process of oxidation. These fatty acids are the structural components of fats and oils. By combining these fatty acids with triglycerides, developers can create fats that are identical to those found in traditional butter.

Savor draws attention to the fact that carbon footprint in the process of making traditional butter in kilograms of CO₂ equivalent (CO2_eCO2-e, or carbon dioxide equivalent, is a standard unit for measuring carbon footprint. The idea is to express the impact of each individual greenhouse gas in terms of the amount of CO₂that would lead to the same level of warming. Thus, the carbon footprint, which consists of many different greenhouse gases, can be expressed as a single _number.) per kilogram of oil depends on the fat content and packaging, but typically ranges from 5.2 kg to 14.7 kg of CO2_e per kg of oil. The company claims that the developed production process creates less than 0.8 grams of CO2_e per kilogram.

In addition, this method of butter production does not require the use of land and water, unlike traditional agriculture. The technology does not require the use of cows and pastures, which can significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

Currently, a number of the company’s partners are already using its product. Savor representatives assure that several restaurants and bakeries have expressed interest in the product, including Michelin-starred restaurants.

However, the company is still having difficulty expanding production as it is still waiting for the necessary regulatory approvals. Despite the fact that Savor oil is chemically identical to traditional butter, long-term studies of the health effects of consuming laboratory fats are needed.

Source: ZMEScience