Photo: Andy Sproles | ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
A team of American researchers have discovered that it is possible to manufacture certain chemicals through fermentation. The process uses an engineered bacterium to convert waste CO2 into acetone and isopropanol, which are used to make thousands of widely used products and have a combined global market of $10 billion. Not only does the process avoid fossil fuel use; it also removes greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, making it a carbon-negative platform. “By harnessing our capacity to partner with biology to make what is needed … on a sustainable and renewable basis, we can begin to take advantage of the available CO2 to transform the bioeconomy,” said Michael Jewett, co-senior author of the study. The research team believes that the fermentation process can be scaled up to an industrial level.
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