Food Production Without Photosynthesis

While single-carbon molecules are not limited, the forms of edible carbon are. The rate at which photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide to biomass is limited by sunlight, climate, and water. With a global population of 8.1 billion and growing, it is imperative that food production remain secure despite changing and unpredictable conditions. Thus, single cell protein (SCP) production via industrial-scale fermentation proves to be an attractive avenue for producing food within a closed system using significantly less arable land and water. SCP is protein-rich biomass derived from unicellular microorganisms, such as yeast, bacteria, or algae. This report assesses the economic feasibility of producing human food grade SCP biomass using fermentation of the methanotrophic bacteria Methyloccocus Capsulatus with two different single-carbon sources as feed. This process was initially designed to produce 50,000 US tons of SCP biomass a year, it demonstrated capacity to produce upwards of 62,000 US tons/year. Therefore, this number was used in the final profitability analysis. The proposed location for the plant is Groves, Texas. The product was determined to have an ideal selling price of $7/kg. The methane-fed process was determined to be economically unfeasible after raw material costs and equipment costs were calculated. However, the methanol-fed process was determined to be viable after considering raw materials, equipment, utilities and other expenses. The methanol-fed process has an IRR of 29% and an ROI of 28%. With the fractional land requirements compared to traditional agriculture, the methanol-fed SCP production process proves to be worth pursuing based on environmental factors.