Savor, a California-based startup funded by billionaire Bill Gates, has recently introduced a method for producing butter-like fats solely from carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
According to The Oddity Central, starting with the idea that all fats consist of chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms, Savor has patented a thermochemical process to build fat molecules and subsequently produce alternative products such as milk, butter, cheese, and ice cream that not only have the same texture but also taste indistinguishable from real food.
Savor’s butter alternative is almost indistinguishable from real food. (Image source: Unsplash)
This process emits no greenhouse gases, does not require farmland, and uses less than one-thousandth of the water compared to traditional agricultural livestock methods. Therefore, this synthetic fat has significantly lower carbon emissions than real animal fat.
So far, taste tests have shown that Savor’s butter alternative tastes nearly indistinguishable from real food. However, the company still faces many challenges before bringing the product to market.
Kathleen Alexander, CEO of Savor, stated: “We are in the pre-commercialization phase and awaiting regulatory approval to sell this butter product. We do not expect to conduct any business until at least 2025.”
In a recent blog post, billionaire Bill Gates indicated that Savor genuinely has the opportunity to launch a successful butter alternative because their version tastes great – just like real butter, as chemically, it is butter.
This is also a challenge that many other startups are facing. Many have hesitated to try laboratory-produced alternatives, making taste a crucial factor.
“They started with the fact that all fats are made up of different chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Then, they began to create similar carbon and hydrogen chains without needing animals or plants. Finally, they developed a process that includes extracting carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water, heating, and oxidizing them to activate the process of separating fatty acids and then formulating the fat,” Gates wrote in a blog post.
This tech billionaire also emphasized the importance of animal alternatives, like Savor’s butter version, in reducing carbon emissions. The livestock sector emits up to 14.5% of global greenhouse gases. As the world’s population continues to rise, emissions are expected to increase as well unless action is taken.
“The big challenge is to reduce costs so that products like Savor fit within the budgets of the general public – at the price of animal fat or lower,” Gates remarked.
Synthetic butter made from carbon dioxide and hydrogen is just the beginning. Savor plans to produce milk, cheese, ice cream, and many other products in the near future.
