Scientists have discovered that a bacterium called Thiomicrospira crunogena can produce carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme that can convert carbon dioxide into bicarbonate. In a new study, scientists from the University of Florida highlight how the bacterium, found in deep-sea regions, could play a role in the race to find solutions to sequester industrial CO2 from the atmosphere.
The researchers say that the bacterium living near hydrothermal vents, usually found in areas with volcanic activity, has been perfected by evolution to withstand extreme temperature and pressure. This special feature makes it is naturally adapted to handle conditions found in an industrial setting.
The carbonic anhydrase enzyme that the bacterium produces can catalyze a chemical reaction between carbon dioxide and water. This interaction converts carbon dioxide into bicarbonate, which could then be processed into products such as baking soda and chalk.
In order to work in an industrial setting, the enzyme would be immobilized with solvent inside a reactor vessel. As flue gas moved through the solvent, the enzyme would covert the carbon dioxide into bicarbonate.
Further research will focus on scaling up production of the enzyme to meet the huge demands of industrial use. The researchers have already devised a way to produce the enzyme in a lab without having to harvest Thiomicrospira crunogena from the sea, using a genetically engineered version of the common E.Coli bacteria.
So far, the team has managed to produce several milligrams of carbonic anhydrase, but much larger quantities would be necessary for industrial application. They will also look into ways of increasing its stability, longevity and activation speed.
Details of the study were published recently in the journals Acta Crystallographica D: Biological Crystallography and Chemical Engineering Science.
The video below features UF scientists talking about their research.
Source: University of Florida
If people are worried about the greenhouse effect then they should be much more concerned with water vapour in the atmosphere, it has a much greater greenhouse effect the CO2 ever will and there is vastly more of it.
What these fools don't seem to be capable of grasping is that it is the IMBALANCE of these gases that is the problem. The global ecosystem is a delicate balance, and artificially altering any single part of it has massive consequences. Why is that so hard for these idiots to understand?
If you really care for the environment then you should go live in a cave or end your life. Everything you do consumes tremendous amounts of fossil fuels. Nobody is willing to sacrifice their lifestyle. And there is no need for it. This problem will be solved by renewable energy the next quarter century. Their has been a lot of false starts, but the tech is finally getting there. Last year, worldwide deployments of renewables exceeded new deployments fossil fuel based electricity. Over the next 5 to 10 years the pendulum might swing back and forth between the two, but after that it will just go one way.
Sorry to be so harsh but we do have to live in the real world. One in which CO2 plus any added warmth is at the moment adding to the increased greening and food production of the planet. Those that want to cut down the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere appear to want to kill life on this planet for some strange reason. Is it because they are blinded by fake figures that are produced to fit a theory rather than the theory being fitted to the real figures, or is it blind belief that un-validated computer models that use incorrect mathematical functions actually mean anything?
What exactly are these bacteria doing right now, if not sequestering CO2.
I don't think you have to get them in a petri-dish to make them do their thing. Nice thing to discover.
And if we have breakthroughs in fusion (unlikely but the Stellerator reactor is having major breakthroughs) fossil fuels could go away in 50 years. Not betting on it, but my main point is that fossil fuel use will dramatically drop over the next 25 years. Enough to make worry over global warming a non-issue. The human race will however find something else to unnecessarily obsess about. It's human to have apocalyptic fears.
And with industrial scale batteries (and think of the billions of vehicles that eventually will be storage that can act as base load) base load can be provided from renewables. I don't see that happening in 25 years, but it will be deployed and accelerating fast in 25 years.