Energy use
Fermentation for the production of food or feed proteins consumes energy in two main ways:
- for the production of feedstocks, and;
- for powering the production process itself (external electricity).
There is high uncertainty regarding those impacts, and a wide range of estimates are found in the literature, reflecting the effect of different assumptions and methods.[1]
As a result, the relative energy use of microbially fermented proteins would not appear as unequivocally better or worse than that of the conventional proteins they may replace. Nevertheless, the high energy intensity of producing mycoprotein is frequently noted.[2]
[1] Diaz-Bustamante ML et al., ‘Trends and prospects in dairy protein replacement in yogurt and cheese’, Helyon 9: e16974, 2023; Smetana et al. 2023. Hadi J, Brightwell G, ‘Safety of alternative proteins: technological, environmental and regulatory aspects of cultured meat, plant-based meat, insect protein and single-cell protein’, Foods 10: 1226, 2021; Diaz-Bustamante et al., 2023; Behm K, Nappa M, Aro N, Wleman A, Ledgard S, Suomalainen M, Hil J, ‘Comparison of carbon footprint and water scarcity footprint of milk protein produced by cellular agriculture and the dairy industry’, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 27:1017-1034, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-022-02087-0.
[2] E.g. Smetana et al., 2023.