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A new type of butter made from CO2 that doesn’t require animals or farmland to produce could soon be available at your supermarket.
The U.S. startup company, Savor, has created a “butter” product made from carbon, in a thermochemical system closer to fossil fuel processing than food production.
“There is no biology involved in our specific process,” says Savor's Kathleen Alexander.
Instead, the "butter" is derived from the carbon in coal, methane or carbon dioxide.
The petrochemical industry converts a blend of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, "syngas" into long-chain hydrocarbons in what is called the Fischer-Tropsch process.
Savor says producing food this way could slash carbon emissions and save the rainforests.