Justin Yoo ’27, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Justin Yoo ’27

Major

Chemical and Biological Engineering

Project Title

Using Solid-state Fermentation to Create Nutrient-dense Food

Presentation Link

View Justin's Presentation

Our food system is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and is rapidly accelerating the dangers of climate change. With animal products acting as the main contributor to these CO₂ emissions, alternative foods that can supply similar nutrients must be explored. I worked with Mycsology Foods to use solid-state fermentation, a sustainable, less energy consuming method, to produce nutrient-dense, high protein ingredients from legumes and grains. The goal of my project was to investigate whether an infrared camera could be used to monitor fermentation temperatures in a deep-well format. My experiments focused on testing a widely used MLX90640 IR camera sensor connected to a Raspberry Pi for accuracy and consistency. I compared the temperature measurements between the IR camera and an external thermometer and found that the camera was inaccurate. However, graphing the temperatures of the thermometer versus the IR camera showed a strong linear relationship between the two readings. I then showed that the camera was also able to distinguish temperatures between adjacent and diagonal wells. This internship exposed me to Adafruit hardware and Python and sparked my interest in the intersections between Electrical and Chemical Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering.