Natural Gas Fermentation: A Promising Approach for Sustainably Meeting the World’s Growing Nutritional Demands

Abstract

The rapid increase in world population, combined with the rising expectation for more nutritional diets in many rapidly developing economies, is creating a strong demand for the protein-rich materials used for human consumption and/or animal feed. Meeting such a demand is already exerting significant pressure on the environment and creating significant pressure for identifying and implementing more sustainable approaches for protein production and utilization. This looming problem needs to be addressed quickly, considering the recent accelerating rise in feed and food prices and their subsequent impact on the sociopolitical stability of several developing societies. This paper quickly reviews the environmental impact of current practices used for meeting the world's protein needs. It then introduces an environmentally-friendly novel approach for converting natural gas into Single Cell Protein that can be used as an ingredient in animal feed formulations. After reviewing the historical background for this approach and the various factors affecting its sustainability, the main impediments to its widespread adoption are discussed, and several means for enhancing the overall sustainability of the approach are presented.