Cheap meat industrially from air, water and sunshine

It had been submitted for South Korea conference

 in 2013

Abundant & inexhaustible source being hydrocarbons from air, water and sunshine, and used to produce eco-friendly & extremely cheap & high-quality meat products

Author David Judbarovski, pensioner, retired engineer, person for contact;

postal address: str. Giborei Sinai 30/23, Akko, 24307, Israel; email: judbarovski@gmail.com; telephone number: 972-4-9811080

Executive Summery

Present scientists and process engineers are concerned by a problem of eco-friendly & not expensive and satisfactory alternative to fossil hydrocarbons being now as a blood for our life and economics. Huge mass of agriculture products is devoured as a biomass for the alternative fuels production, and this entail serious rise of food prices, foods’ deficit in the world, and soil depletion. 

Here I intend to look at the problem from reverse side, and to prove that present science and technologies are ready, without any detriment to the fuels supply for energy needs, to use hydrocarbons as nutrition for chemotrophic bacteria as a producer of biomass then can be remade in eco-friendly & extremely cheap & high-quality meat products in abundant & inexhaustible quantities.

It isn’t a wishful thinking, but based on following premises. I’ll comment a list of them shortly.

(1) Methane can be both energy and nutrition sole source for the so-called Methanotrophs, and a dry biomass of the said bacteria typically comprises 60-80% by the weight crude protein, 5-20% - crude fat, 3-15% nucleic acids (RNA and DNA), 2-10% ash, and plenty share of phosphorus, iron and cupper. Preferably, the biomass will comprise ~ 70% crude protein, ~10% -crude fat, ~10% nucleic acids, ~7% - ash, and P, Fe, Cu. It is very promising by its food quality vs. consume meats, e.g. beef is 60% -protein, 35%-fat, bacon is 35% -protein, 62% -fat, veal is 90% - protein, 5.5% -fat, all those if excluding their water  (up to 78% depended on kind of meat).

(2) Methane is very excellent in the terms of its chemical potential and its microbiological industry perspective in terms of carbon & hydrogen contents’ compactness as both energy and nutrient sources, and of high yield.  

(3) Synthetic methane can be competitively produced from air and water and sunshine, and it isn’t a joke, but quite safety estimated business based on conventional technologies and apparatus. The technology was developed by British company of Air Fuel Synthesis. See also a report of Department of Energy (USA) DOE-Energy Innovation Hub-Fuel from Sunshine (DE-FOA-0000214) named “Closing the Carbon Cycle: Liquid Fuels from Air, Water and Sunshine”, Claus S. Lackner et al. (Columbia University et al.).     

(4) Such technology can be sufficiently upgraded by some inventions and know-how, and the said methane can be about US$ 23.0/barrel oil equivalent, or US$ 190.0/ton at world prices conjuncture of 2012 yr., and using 40,000 sq. km of arid lands for all present mankind’s fuel consume. That is disclosed in my article more detailed.

(5) 1.0 ton of the methane is enough to produce about 1.0 ton of the said Methanotrophs dry biomass by not-sophisticated and not-expensive apparatus, so a cost of such meat would be about US$ 65.0 per a ton of consume meat well imitated (6.5 cents/kg !!!).

In summary, by the way we can supply meat of natural quality for all mankind now living on the Earth (200 kg per capita annually) by 6.5 cent/kg using air, water and sunshine, i.e. unlimited resources, by eco-friendly manner, consuming for the meat production 1500 sq. km of arid lands, or each sq. meter of production area can create in average 1000 kg of the meat products annually. 

Keywords: cheap hydrocarbons, Methanotrops, meat products

Present scientists and process engineers are concerned by a problem of eco-friendly & not expensive and satisfactory alternative to fossil hydrocarbons being now as a blood for our life and economics. Huge mass of agriculture products is devoured as a biomass for the alternative fuels production, and this entail serious rise of food prices, foods’ deficit in the world, and soil depletion. 

Here I intend to look at the problem from reverse side, and to prove that present science and technologies are ready, without any detriment to the fuels supply for energy needs, to use hydrocarbons as nutrition for chemotrophic bacteria as a producer of biomass then can be remade in eco-friendly & extremely cheap & high-quality meat products in abundant & inexhaustible quantities.

It isn’t a wishful thinking, but based on following premises. I’ll comment a list of them shortly.

(1) Methane can be both energy and nutrition sole source for the so-called Methanotrophs, and a dry biomass of the said bacteria typically comprises 60-80% by the weight crude protein, 5-20% - crude fat, 3-15% nucleic acids (RNA and DNA), 2-10% ash, and plenty share of phosphorus, iron and cupper. Preferably, the biomass will comprise ~ 70% crude protein, ~10% -crude fat, ~10% nucleic acids, ~7% - ash, and P, Fe, Cu. It is very promising by its food quality vs. consume meats, e.g. beef is 60% -protein, 35%-fat, bacon is 35% -protein, 62% -fat, veal is 90% - protein, 5.5% -fat, all those if excluding their water (51% up to 78% depended on kind of meat).

 (2) Methane is very excellent in the terms of its chemical potential and its microbiological industry perspective in terms of carbon & hydrogen contents’ compactness as both energy and nutrient sources, and of high yield.  

(3) Synthetic methane can be competitively produced from air and water and sunshine, and it isn’t a joke, but quite safety estimated business based on conventional technologies and apparatus. The technology was developed by British company of Air Fuel Synthesis. See also a report of Department of Energy (USA) DOE-Energy Innovation Hub-Fuel from Sunshine (DE-FOA-0000214) named “Closing the Carbon Cycle: Liquid Fuels from Air, Water and Sunshine”, Claus S. Lackner et al. (Columbia University et al.). 

(4) Such technology can be sufficiently upgraded by some inventions and know-how, and the said methane can be about US$ 23.0/barrel o. e., or US$ 190.0/ton at world prices conjuncture of 2012 yr., and using 40,000 sq. km of arid lands for all present mankind’s fuel consume. That is disclosed in my article more detailed below.

(5) 1.0 ton of the methane is enough to produce about 1.0 ton of the said Methanotrophs dry biomass by not-sophisticated and not-expensive apparatus, so a cost of such meat would be about US$ 65.0 per a ton of consume meat well imitated (6.5 cents/kg !!!).

In summary, by the way we can supply meat of natural quality for all mankind now living on the Earth (200 kg per capita annually) by 6.5 cent/kg using air, water and sunshine, i.e. unlimited resources, by eco-friendly manner, consuming for the meat production 1500 sq. km of arid lands, or each sq. meter of production area can create in average 1000 kg of the meat products annually.

Development initiative of British company of Air Fuel Synthesis is to produce fuels by multistage technology “from air and water”. By their technology disclosed the carbon dioxide of the air reacts with the sodium hydroxide to receive the sodium bicarbonate that “by electrolysis” is releasing the carbon dioxide that is mixed with the hydrogen produced from water by electrolysis too for following syngas producing further allowing fuels (i.e. hydrocarbons or methanol) production. The company underlines that they use well known conventional technologies and equipments at all stages of their technology as the main their advantage allowing to accelerate their technology introducing from its initial stage up to mass industrial production of the fuel, now costs for them “400 pounds (644 USD) per a ton (USD 92/bbl)” by now small pilot equipment. Moreover they intend for the future to use renewable energy as electricity source for the said electrolysis.
I can estimate my version as much simpler and three-four times cheaper, and using well known conventional equipments too except of a special original solar concentrating system earlier invented by me as a source of very cheap warm and electricity for my technology! The said solar concentrating system is about USD 15.0 per sq. meter of aperture, and needs a record small land area for its deployment, and consists of cheap and mass produced parts and materials fully recyclable. Such combination is a key and new element, make possibility extremely to cheapen my variant of synthetic hydrocarbons producing technology.

Next two chapters are devoted to disclose the said solar system and its application to cheap electricity production and then to hydrocarbons’ production.

Breakthrough solar system disclosure

The solar power system offered is based on following very fruitful ideas:
(1) Two mirrors’ unit consists of a planar heliostat paired with motionless solar beams concentrator.
Such unit being multiplied for solar power plant, it can save plenty land area by about 25% in comparison with conventional systems, because they can be placed more tightly not suffering of shading each others. Its mirrors can be saved inside cases against dust, atmospheric precipitations, wind stresses and so on, and can be cleaned automatically, unmanned. Moreover, its concentrating mirror is motionless here, and it makes possibility of very many promising industrial applications being absolutely not possible if conventional system. Exact sun tracing can be reached here by very simple and cheap control device. Being summarized such approach allows to create very reliable and cheap solar power system.
My calculations and explanations had been presented for evaluation to Dr. Akiva Segal (Weizmann Institute of Sciences (WIS), Israel) some years ago, but he didn’t find a time to answer me, even if he promised me constantly…
It was developed by me independently some years ago, but I just have been puzzled to know that analogous system was used in latest 80’-s by the same Weizmann Institute of Sciences – see: “Solar Energy”, Vol. 42, No. 3, p.p. 265-272, 1989, printed in USA (R. Levitan, H. Rosen and M. Levy, Department of Material Sciences, WIS, Israel). It was used to create a high temperature of about 1000 Centigrade for thermochemistry research. But the said device was considered by WIS to be interested for research purposes only, and during next more than 20 years it rusts all forgotten in favor of their giant dish concentrator, because the two mirrors’ concentrating system was considered by WIS as non-perspective branch of solar industry.
I can’t agree with such short-sighted conclusion.
(2) Stretched strings (e.g. stainless, or polyamide ones), can be used to support walls of the said cases containing the said mirrors, and by the way we both can save a plenty many materials of the walls, and for the said mirrors can be used minimum materials too, because they would be suffering by own small weight load only, and because a specific strength of the thin strings is sufficiently higher that for the bulk, and  we can save additionally a plenty many materials for the walls and for the mirrors, if the system being composed of not big subunits of about 1.0 meter X 1.0 meter. The last demand serves to lighten the case’s frame against loads induced by the said stretched strings. The last is especially important, because a cost of the frame would be a very big share of a cost of the system, even if it is of cheap black iron.
Much to the happiness, the said loads on adjacent frame are compensated each others.
A back wall of the case is of PET sheet, and a front wall is of transparent Plexiglas.
(3) The heliostat mirror is of Plexiglas too. The concentrating mirror is a Fresnel reflector, and consists of concentric circles of small reflectors of hollow polycarbonate.
The cost of the system with concentrating ratio even if more than 5000 : 1 would be USD 15.0 per 1.0 squire meter approximately (if world market prices of 2012, May) :
USD 7.0 – black iron frame
USD 1.4 – PET sheet
USD 2.0 – stainless strings
USD 2.0 – hollow polycarbonate
USD 2.0 – Plexiglas
Durability is more than 10 years. All materials are recyclable. 1.0 squire meter subunit is about 8.0 kg, the lion share of it is the frame’s weight.
Cost of such solar thermal electricity could be much less than 1.0 US cent/kWh

Such argument can be supported by next chapter.

New class of cheap and light and powerful electrochemical generators

I can suppose some metal-hydrogen electrochemical generators (ECG) and metal-nitrogen ones can be promising in terms of possibility to be thermal recycled, and of some other surprises. It can be Li-N or Zn-H and they are far not only variants. That idea goes back to my potassium-oxygen ECG, when oxidation process and recycling go at quite suitable temperatures. Now it is a metal oxidation by hydrogen or by nitrogen followed by parallel recycling by thermolysis of hydride/nitride inside separate vessel, while the thermolysis products being the metal and hydrogen/nitrogen, are returned in anode and to cathode correspondingly.
By that trick we can create a device with very high energy effectiveness of ECG-s, but being extremely small and cheap and being able to consume any combustible as energy source.
My concept can allow the anode to be with relatively high melting point too vs. melting points of its hydride/nitride and electrolyte. Really, we can melt the metal after recycling in separate vessel and then to pump it to anode and to be crystallized on it from its end to compensate consume of it when it operates.
My ECG conception vs. conventional ones has very unexpected advantage can open new class of electrochemical generators, including new interpretation of well known ones!!! Really, in my case the hydride/nitride if having a density sufficiently differ from electrolyte density, and if not being adhesive to cathode or to a special cover on the cathode, by gravitational force the said hydride/nitride is pops-up above the electrolyte or settles to the bottom and then goes for recycler. So being not adhesive to the cathode, we haven’t to care to have very porous structure of cathode to increase a power density, and we weaken a terrible problem of collection of non-conductive product on the cathode and inside its pores.
I can renounce of necessity of a product of electrochemistry to be melted at a fuel cell temperature, or to be dissolved in the electrolyte.
For example, the solid LiH pops-up on the electrolyte operates at room temperature but under a pressing. Then LiH can be simply and continuously pumped out for following thermolysis on the Li and hydrogen, when the Li can be return into anode. The said hydrogen goes to a storage vessel and further goes to cathode. It can be quite small vessel. Moreover it eliminates a heavy problem of constant and precise drying, cleaning and expensive production of the said hydrogen.
For Li-H ECG, theoretically by Faraday’s law the energy density is 11.64 kWh/kg Li, but it is about 3.85 kWh/kg that follows from thermodynamics, and if we suppose 10 minutes cycle for our non-stop process, it is 3.85 * 60’/10’ = 23 kW/kg Li, or 162 kW/kg H.

If a block of 1 MW, we can use 1000/23 = 43.5 kg Li and 6.2 kg H to satisfy the said power.
So it is normal 22.4 * 6200/2 ~70 n. cubic meter H, or 1.0 cubic meter at 70 bar, and for pressing we have to consume about 70 * 100 * ln 70 / 600 sec ~ 50 kW, or about 5 % of the said block power.

Such ECG contains 43.5 gram Li and 6.2 gram H per kW. So if about 8000 kWh electricity per 5 years of payback, the said ECG share per kWh is negligible small in a cost of its electricity.
We can consider some other reasonable candidates to be used as an anode, e.g. potassium, sodium, calcium, zinc, iron, strontium, magnesium, but I can think the lithium is best of them.
It can be following ECG-s: zinc (H, N), lithium (H, N), magnesium (H), iron (H), strontium (H), calcium (H), sodium (H), potassium (H).

The said preliminary preceding chapters now take a possibility more understandable disclose my technology of abundant & inexhaustible hydrocarbons from air, water and sunshine in details.
Really, at first an ambient air goes into a tank with benzene agitated and for example at about 20 Centigrade, and while the said air is dissolved in the said water, the lion share of the air, its nitrogen and oxygen can’t be dissolved except of their very small quantity at saturating value, while air’s carbon dioxide can be dissolved up to it quite high saturating value of 11.4 m3/ 1.0 m3 of the benzene. Further the said benzene is heated up to about 50 Centigrade, so the said benzene is intensively degassed, and the exuded gases can be a mix of CO2 and benzene vapor, and small quantity of nitrogen and oxygen. The said exuded mix of the gases is condensed and filtered to clean it off the benzene and then it is mixed with hydrogen produced by water electrolysis.
Per each 300 cubic meter of the air we can receive 100 g CO₂. One million ton of hydrocarbons produced per year consumes 300,000 m3/ s of the air, or about 4 millions kWh electricity for pumping. The electricity produced by above-mentioned solar concentrating system would be less 0.5 US cent per kWh, if Israel sun irradiation conditions, or 1 kg of hydrogen ideally is 17.0 US cents.
Calculation (US$ per 1.0 ton of methane, if 5 years of payback):
5.0 – CO₂ production
85.0 – hydrogen production (4 mol per 1 mol of methane)
70.0 – OEM
20% - others
Sum is US$ 190.0/ton methane, or US$ 23.0/bbl o. e., Q.E.D., and the today world all fuel consume being very approximately of 10 milliard o. e. would need 40 000 sq. km of solar plant only, that USA can provide by 0.5% of its land.
We can sufficiently simplify and cheapen practically into zero the first step of the technology, i.e. the heating and cooling the solvent, if choosing the benzene as the solvent instead of the water, moreover in that case we can exclude the special three tanks technology in favor one stage of heating and cooling.

Conclusion

The present level of technologies makes the possibility to supply meat of natural quality for all mankind now living on the Earth (200 kg per capita annually) by 6.5 cent/kg using air, water and sunshine, i.e. unlimited resources, by eco-friendly manner, consuming for the meat production 1500 sq. km of arid lands, or each sq. meter of production area can create in average 1000 kg of the meat products annually. Q.E.D.!