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By tinkering with the process that plants use to breathe in carbon dioxide, a team of German scientists has just discovered a far more efficient way to get rid of it. Biochemists led by Tobias Erb at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany, have developed a new, super-efficient method for living organisms to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere.
Plants, algae, and other organisms turn CO2 into fuel. Erb and his colleagues reengineered this process, making it about 25 percent more energy efficient and potentially up to two or three times faster. The study appears in Science.
Plants and algae are already pretty damn good at getting rid of carbon dioxide. Globally, they consume about 350 gigatons of CO2 per year. Almost all of that carbon absorption is done through same chemical process, a series of chemical reactions called the Calvin cycle.
To put it simply, the Calvin cycle is a set of molecular transformations that slowly turns simple three-atom CO2 molecules into glucose, a complex sugar. Plants use it and get by just fine. From an engineering perspective, however, it's easy to see how life's Calvin cycle could use a tuneup.
For one things, the process hinges on a specific molecular tool called RuBisCO, which grabs hold of CO2 gas, and forms it into a bigger molecule to get things started. The problem? "RuBisCO is slow," and, like a puttering car, "it backfires often, meaning about every 5thattempt RuBisCO will mix up CO2 with oxygen gas," says Erb. Grabbing the wrong gas slows down the carbon absorbing process.
Read more here. (Popular Mechanics)
Plants, algae, and other organisms turn CO2 into fuel. Erb and his colleagues reengineered this process, making it about 25 percent more energy efficient and potentially up to two or three times faster. The study appears in Science.
Plants and algae are already pretty damn good at getting rid of carbon dioxide. Globally, they consume about 350 gigatons of CO2 per year. Almost all of that carbon absorption is done through same chemical process, a series of chemical reactions called the Calvin cycle.
To put it simply, the Calvin cycle is a set of molecular transformations that slowly turns simple three-atom CO2 molecules into glucose, a complex sugar. Plants use it and get by just fine. From an engineering perspective, however, it's easy to see how life's Calvin cycle could use a tuneup.
For one things, the process hinges on a specific molecular tool called RuBisCO, which grabs hold of CO2 gas, and forms it into a bigger molecule to get things started. The problem? "RuBisCO is slow," and, like a puttering car, "it backfires often, meaning about every 5thattempt RuBisCO will mix up CO2 with oxygen gas," says Erb. Grabbing the wrong gas slows down the carbon absorbing process.
Read more here. (Popular Mechanics)
