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A new process promises 8.5 times more efficiency than natural processes. This could save cultivation area.
Vegetable Starch is used by mankind for food production, for industry (approx for the production of paper) or in medicine. So far it has mainly been obtained from maize or grain. In the plants, carbon dioxide is released in around 60 steps converted into starch through photosynthesis. Chinese researchers have now found an artificial way that has the same result, but only 11 steps needed.
Brake climate change
As Phys.org reports , this new way of starch production was found at the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The procedure promises 8.5 times more efficient than to be the starch synthesis in corn. This could help overcome food shortages and curb climate change.
1 cubic meter instead of 3000 square meters
“If the total cost of the process in If the future comes to an economically similar level to agricultural production, 90 percent of land and drinking water resources can be saved, ”says Ma Yanhe, co-author of the study. A 1 cubic meter bioreactor could in future produce the same amount of starch as a
0.3 hectare corn field , if the energy required for the process is not included in the calculation.
CO2-neutral economy
If arable land is saved, it also helps to reduce the environmentally harmful effects of pesticides and fertilizers. At the same time, food safety is guaranteed and a CO2-neutral economy is promoted. A study on the new starch production method was published in the journal Science released.
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