Bacteria have been modified to produce chemicals found in paint remover and hand sanitiser from carbon dioxide in the air, meaning they have negative emissions compared with traditional industrial methods
Bacteria engineered to turn carbon dioxide into compounds used in paint remover and hand sanitiser could offer a carbon-negative way of manufacturing industrial chemicals.
at LanzaTech in Illinois and his colleagues searched through strains of an ethanol-producing bacterium,, to identify enzymes that would allow the microbes to instead create acetone, which is used to make paint and nail polish remover. Then they combined the genes for these enzymes into one organism. They repeated the process for isopropanol, which is used as a disinfectant.from the air to produce the chemicals. “You can imagine the process similar to brewing beer,” says Köpke.
This equates to a 160 per cent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, if this method were to be broadly adopted, say the researchers. The technique could also be made more sustainable by using waste gas from other industrial processes, such as steel manufacturing. “As a population, we are looking for ways to better partner with the planet right now,” says team memberat Northwestern University, Illinois. “What is exciting about this work is that really advances and applies our capacities to partner with biology, to make what’s needed when and where it’s needed on a sustainable and renewable basis.”
“The approach we’ve developed provides the blueprint for future development and will accelerate development of other chemicals that can be produced in a similar carbon-negative way,” says Köpke.
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