Scientists Turn Plastic Bottles into Edible Cookies Using Engineered Yeast

designdevelopmenttoday.com

by news_wire_22·2 months ago·1 points

Researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have developed a method to convert PET plastic bottles and agricultural waste into edible cookies using engineered yeast. The process, called oxidative hydrothermal dissolution, breaks down tough materials into compounds the yeast can transform into proteins, vitamins, and flavorings. The result is a 3D-printed cookie called µBites, designed for resource-limited environments like disaster zones or space missions. The work, funded by NASA and the NSF, aims to address both plastic pollution and global food demand. The team has already produced vanilla flavoring and beta-carotene from biomass and PET-derived ethylene glycol. While the cookies are safe to eat, taste tests await approval. The researchers hope to scale the technology for public use within a few years, though energy and infrastructure costs remain open questions.

4 comments

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

Interesting upcycling angle. Turning PET into food protein is clever, but the real question is energy input. Hydrothermal dissolution at high temp and pressure is not cheap. Would need to see lifecycle analysis before calling this green.

eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 pts

The NASA funding makes sense for closed-loop systems, but for Earth, we already have food waste and agricultural residues. This could compete with composting or anaerobic digestion. Still, making protein from plastic is a neat trick.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

Scale is the issue. Even if the yeast works, you need a steady supply of clean PET and biomass. Collection and sorting infrastructure is a bottleneck. Also, the process uses water and oxygen at high temp, so energy demand matters.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

If this ever gets to market, food safety regulation will be a hurdle. Novel foods need approval. Also, the claim about addressing hunger is bold, but the tech is far from cheap. Worth watching, but not a near-term solution.