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 When Professor A. Champagna took to the rostrum of the World Petroleum Congress in Frankfurt am Main to read his report, the hall was overcrowded.
Most of those present were in a belligerent mood: it is necessary, finally, to reason with this person, who tried to combine the incompatible, from the ordinary to get the unusual ...
The professor took several test tubes from his pocket.
“Try it,” he told his colleagues. Several people poured grayish flakes into their palms. And even decided to taste them.
- Edible? The professor asked.
- Quite! - the examiners answered.
- This is the substance obtained from oil, - said A. Champagnat.
The discussion lasted for two hours. It is unlikely that everyone present fully understood the method by which the French professor obtained protein substances from oil. Many details of his work remained unrevealed, but the scientists left the conference room deeply convinced that a truly remarkable discovery had been made.
... It is well known that microorganisms can develop in the most unfavorable conditions, from our point of view. They are found in Antarctica, at great ocean depths and in the stratosphere, some of them even live in uranium ores and nuclear reactors. After a long search, scientists finally stumbled upon microorganisms that develop in oil. They use it for food.
But it is one thing to find such microorganisms, another is to purposefully remove varieties that not only feed on oil, but also process it into protein substances!
Work continued for several years in a small laboratory near Marseille with the desired results. French scientists have obtained crops that develop extremely quickly on oil. In the course of their vital activity, they create a protein mass of excellent quality. The protein in it is 50 percent!
 Scientists killed two birds with one stone. Microorganisms not only process part of the oil into a protein substance, but also dewax it. And in order to get rid of paraffins, expensive and rather sophisticated equipment is used in modern oil refineries. Microorganisms do this work quickly, imperceptibly and, as it were, "in the course of their main activity."
... If we take ten tons of solid oil fraction, which is very low in quality, and grow microorganisms on it, then after a while we will get one ton of protein and nine tons of gas oil - a high quality fuel.
The protein mass, easily converted into a concentrate, can be used to feed animals and even humans. In terms of the content of the most important amino acids, this protein is close to the protein substance of meat.
In Asia and Africa, food contains a lot of vegetable protein and very little animal. Doctors believe that many diseases inherent in the population of the tropics arise precisely because of the shortage of this elixir of life. The lack of animal protein affects children especially strongly.
Proteins from oil will no doubt help alleviate the tropical hunger problem.
So far, the proteins obtained by the French do not completely replace animals. But if you take, for example, 900 grams corn and 100 grams of protein concentrate, then this mixture will be in no way inferior meat... It also contains vitamins that promote the growth and strengthening of the child's body. This mixture is especially useful for women who are preparing to become mothers.
Scientists have conducted numerous tests on animals. The experienced results exceeded all expectations. That is why we can talk about the widespread use of proteins from oil.
There is a widespread misconception that you can only eat substances that the earth and nature give us.Why not improve her gifts? Why not add nutritional value to foods? For example, a protein concentrate derived from oil was added to bread. And no one complained that the rolls became tasteless. The fact is that this concentrate has neither smell nor color and does not affect the taste of products.
French scientists have calculated that humanity now needs 20 million tons of protein annually, which corresponds to 100 million tons of meat. One ton of protein can be obtained from 10 tons of crude oil, therefore, only 200 million tons of oil are needed to fully provide protein. And now more than a billion tons of "black gold" are mined on the globe every year.
If you think about it, proteins from oil are not artificial food at all, but the same natural products as, say, yogurt or beer ... Microorganisms that feed on oil are a kind of mushrooms. They are living organisms that use completely organic food to maintain their vital functions. Oil is the same natural formation as soil. We sow rye in the fields and harvest it after a few months. Microorganisms are also sown. Only land replaces oil. And the harvest is somewhat unusual.
The work described here started in a small laboratory in France. Scientists will continue to research. They will try to implement many technological processes in the oil industry. It is difficult to say what results will be obtained, but it can be argued that a new direction that has arisen in science will bring many benefits to humanity.
N. Ivanov, A. Livanov, V. Fedchenko
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