University Of Florida Researchers Find Carbon Dioxide Neutralizing Bacteria

Scientists have discovered a bacteria that neutralizes greenhouse gas, and this might be humanity’s ultimate weapon in combating climate change. The process by which this outcome is achieved is called sequestering, according to scientists’ explanation.

Researchers may have found a possible solution for reducing global carbon dioxide emissions in the form of minute, deep-sea bacteria.

McKenna and his colleagues discovered a way to obtain the carbon-sucking enzyme without having to continuously scoop it up from the ocean floor.

The search is on for a variant of the enzyme which is both heat-tolerant and fast-acting as well as being more stable and long-lived.

Therefore, it is hoped that the Thiomicrospira crunogena bacteria could one day soon be used on a larger scale, to diminish the effects of man-made global warming. The enzyme carbonic anhydrase can actually strip carbon dioxide from organisms, the researchers say.

Although carbonic anhydrase’s ability to neutralize carbon dioxide is thoroughly judged by the Mckenna team and was accepted wordwide, the best enzyme is yet to be found.McKenna is very hopeful that the best enzyme will guide the world in a better way to deal with carbon dioxide gas. The enzyme can resist high temperatures, so it won’t be a problem for it to adapt to climate change and continue to replace carbon dioxide with bicarbonate.

This is the equivalent of over 2.4 million pounds of heat-trapping gas being emitted every second, so halting such an incredibly accelerated process seems like an insurmountable problem. This bicarbonate can then be further processed into products such as baking soda and chalk. The findings by the McKenna Group including Brian Mahon and Avni Bhatt, graduate research assistants, have been published recently in the journals Acta Crystallographica D: Biological Crystallography and Chemical Engineering Science. The process of producing the enzyme involves genetically engineered version of the common E. coli bacteria.

To make this process work in an industrial scenario, the carbonic anhydrase needs to be immobilized using a solvent in a reactor vessel, thus serving as a large purification column. “The fact that it has such a high thermal stability makes it a good candidate for further study.”. “It has already adapted to a few of the conditions it would face in an industrial setting”. Next, they want to study ways to increase the enzyme’s stability and longevity, which are important issues to be addressed before the enzyme could be put into widespread industrial use.

Researchers said sequestering takes place when carbonic anhydrase catalyzes a chemical reaction between carbon dioxide and water and creates a situation wherein carbon dioxide has to interact with the enzyme for the creation of bicarbonate.