Using microorganisms to turn natural gas (methane) into animal food

All the food you've eaten is made from the sunlight caught by plants for months or years before you eat itBut with the introduction of a plan to feed livestock using fossil fuels, some of the energy on your plate may soon come from the sunlight captured by plants millions of years agoCalysta, a biotech company based in Menlo Park, California, will announce the first large-scale plant to use microbes to turn natural gas (methane) into high-protein food for animalsThe plant, which will be built in the U.Sby Calysta and food giant Cargill, is expected to produce 200,000 tons of feed a yearfood made from methane has been approved by the European Union to feed farmed fish and livestock such as pigsCalysta is seeking approval in the United States for such food for more than just farm animals"We want to make it food for cats, dogs, and even humansAlan Shaw, the company's director, saidThe process relies on microbes that feed on methaneThese methane-obsessed methane oxides "burn" methane for energy and produce carbon dioxide and water as a by-productSome of this energy is then used to bind to other methane molecules to produce more complex carbon molecules -- in other words, foodthis ability was first evolved billions of years ago , probably before photosynthesisToday, from cold springs on the ocean floor to ponds and swamps, whereever it is rich in methane, traces of methane oxide bacteria can be foundCalysta uses a bacterium called mesococcalThe bacteria are farmed in large barrels, feed on methane, and then dried and turned into small ballsThe idea was first proposed in the 1980s by Statoil, Norway's state-owned oil company At the beginning of this century, the company established a plant that could produce 10,000 tons of feed per year However, gas prices were higher at the time and the product was not approved in the European Union As a result, the plant was shut down and the technology was sold to Calysta