FERMENTATION, WHICH MAKES wine and beer alcoholic, has now joined humanity’s proverbial toolbelt in lowering the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Researchers at synthetic biology company LanzaTech in Illinois engineered the bacterium Clostridium autoethanogenum to ferment carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into everyday chemicals like acetone and isopropanol, which are used in disinfectants and rubbing alcohols, and are the basis for acrylic glass and polypropylene plastics.

This process harnesses CO and CO2 to create a useful byproduct that makes it carbon negative, meaning that it can decrease the amount of carbon dioxide funneled into the atmosphere, which contributes to heat and, therefore, climate change. The researchers published their findings earlier this week in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

WHAT’S NEW — Traditionally, acetone and isopropanol (a.k.a. isopropyl alcohol, or IPA) are resource-intensive byproducts that require lots of fossil fuels for their creation. Acetone comes from the raw materials benzene and propylene. According to their paper, these massive industries have a combined global market of more than $10 billion.

These researchers have found a cleaner way to produce these chemicals that can help purge the atmosphere of carbon dioxide. In fermentation, yeast eats sugar and produces ethanol. In this analogous process, the bacterium has been engineered to eat CO and CO2 and produce these chemicals. In its pre-engineered, natural form, it creates ethanol. Using synthetic biology, the bacterium can now produce acetone or IPA.

www.inverse.com/science/bacteria-eat-carbon-dioxide-climate-change-solution

Spiny Norman said:

FERMENTATION, WHICH MAKES wine and beer alcoholic, has now joined humanity’s proverbial toolbelt in lowering the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Researchers at synthetic biology company LanzaTech in Illinois engineered the bacterium Clostridium autoethanogenum to ferment carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into everyday chemicals like acetone and isopropanol, which are used in disinfectants and rubbing alcohols, and are the basis for acrylic glass and polypropylene plastics.

This process harnesses CO and CO2 to create a useful byproduct that makes it carbon negative, meaning that it can decrease the amount of carbon dioxide funneled into the atmosphere, which contributes to heat and, therefore, climate change. The researchers published their findings earlier this week in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

WHAT’S NEW — Traditionally, acetone and isopropanol (a.k.a. isopropyl alcohol, or IPA) are resource-intensive byproducts that require lots of fossil fuels for their creation. Acetone comes from the raw materials benzene and propylene. According to their paper, these massive industries have a combined global market of more than $10 billion.

These researchers have found a cleaner way to produce these chemicals that can help purge the atmosphere of carbon dioxide. In fermentation, yeast eats sugar and produces ethanol. In this analogous process, the bacterium has been engineered to eat CO and CO2 and produce these chemicals. In its pre-engineered, natural form, it creates ethanol. Using synthetic biology, the bacterium can now produce acetone or IPA.

www.inverse.com/science/bacteria-eat-carbon-dioxide-climate-change-solution

> Bacteria that eats Co2 and coverts it to useful chemicals

Well, plants do. So do cyanobacteria.

> WHAT’S NEW — Traditionally, acetone and isopropanol are resource-intensive byproducts that require lots of fossil fuels for their creation

Particularly acetone. Not so much isopropanol.

> the bacterium has been engineered to eat CO and CO2 and produce these chemicals. In its pre-engineered, natural form, it creates ethanol. Using synthetic biology, the bacterium can now produce acetone or isopropanol.

Using what for energy? Doesn’t seem to be photosynthesis. Clostridia normally feed on pyruvate. If that’s their only source of energy then they really have something.

Acetone from ethanol normally produces carbon dioxide. In vitro the reaction is:

Spiny Norman said:

FERMENTATION, WHICH MAKES wine and beer alcoholic, has now joined humanity’s proverbial toolbelt in lowering the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Researchers at synthetic biology company LanzaTech in Illinois engineered the bacterium Clostridium autoethanogenum to ferment carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into everyday chemicals like acetone and isopropanol, which are used in disinfectants and rubbing alcohols, and are the basis for acrylic glass and polypropylene plastics.

This process harnesses CO and CO2 to create a useful byproduct that makes it carbon negative, meaning that it can decrease the amount of carbon dioxide funneled into the atmosphere, which contributes to heat and, therefore, climate change. The researchers published their findings earlier this week in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

WHAT’S NEW — Traditionally, acetone and isopropanol (a.k.a. isopropyl alcohol, or IPA) are resource-intensive byproducts that require lots of fossil fuels for their creation. Acetone comes from the raw materials benzene and propylene. According to their paper, these massive industries have a combined global market of more than $10 billion.

These researchers have found a cleaner way to produce these chemicals that can help purge the atmosphere of carbon dioxide. In fermentation, yeast eats sugar and produces ethanol. In this analogous process, the bacterium has been engineered to eat CO and CO2 and produce these chemicals. In its pre-engineered, natural form, it creates ethanol. Using synthetic biology, the bacterium can now produce acetone or IPA.

www.inverse.com/science/bacteria-eat-carbon-dioxide-climate-change-solution

sounds a little bit helpful