RESEARCH
Plastics from sunlight could become reality / California researchers find pathway to produce plastics feedstocks through photosynthesis
The ultimate renewable plastic – made by sunlight – could become reality if a project emerging from a US university think-tank proves viable at commercial scale. Scientists at the University of California (www.ucdavis.edu) in Davis have successfully engineered blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, to grow feedstocks for plastics using photosynthesis and are looking for corporate partners to help scale up the process.
While biological reactions are good at forming carbon-carbon bonds using carbon dioxide, the challenge is to make significant accounts of chemicals to meet plastics producers’ feedstock needs, says Shota Atsumi, assistant professor of chemistry at UC Davis and lead author of a study on the process, developed in part with financial aid from Japanese chemical producer Asahi Kasei (Tokyo; www.asahi-kasei.co.jp).
First, the California research team identified enzymes from online databases that carried out the targeted reactions and then introduced the DNA from the enzymes into the cells of the bacteria. Subsequently, they built a three-step pathway to convert CO2 into 2.3 butanediol. After three weeks of growth, the bacteria yielded 2.4 grams of the chemical per litre of growth medium. This was the highest productivity yet achieved and harbours potential for commercial development, said Atsumi.
The researchers at the university, which focuses on science, are enthusiastic about the prospects for the new technology as a step toward the US Department of Energy’s (http://energy.gov) goal of obtaining a quarter of industrial chemicals from biological processes by 2025. Atsumi hopes to tune the process further and experiment with other products. “Because enyzmes work differently in different organisms, it is nearly impossible to predict how well the pathway will work before testing it,” he says.
While biological reactions are good at forming carbon-carbon bonds using carbon dioxide, the challenge is to make significant accounts of chemicals to meet plastics producers’ feedstock needs, says Shota Atsumi, assistant professor of chemistry at UC Davis and lead author of a study on the process, developed in part with financial aid from Japanese chemical producer Asahi Kasei (Tokyo; www.asahi-kasei.co.jp).
First, the California research team identified enzymes from online databases that carried out the targeted reactions and then introduced the DNA from the enzymes into the cells of the bacteria. Subsequently, they built a three-step pathway to convert CO2 into 2.3 butanediol. After three weeks of growth, the bacteria yielded 2.4 grams of the chemical per litre of growth medium. This was the highest productivity yet achieved and harbours potential for commercial development, said Atsumi.
The researchers at the university, which focuses on science, are enthusiastic about the prospects for the new technology as a step toward the US Department of Energy’s (http://energy.gov) goal of obtaining a quarter of industrial chemicals from biological processes by 2025. Atsumi hopes to tune the process further and experiment with other products. “Because enyzmes work differently in different organisms, it is nearly impossible to predict how well the pathway will work before testing it,” he says.
16.01.2013 Plasteurope.com [224312-0]
Published on 16.01.2013