Recent advances in engineering fast-growing cyanobacterial species for enhanced CO2 fixation

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2024.1412232/full

Authors 

David S. Kim1* José Ángel Moreno-Cabezuelo1 Eduardo Nicolas Schulz David J. Lea-Smith Uma Shankar Sagaram

https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2024.1412232

17 June 2024

Abstract 

Atmospheric CO2 removal (CDR) is a fundamentally endergonic process. Performing CDR or Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) at the gigatonne scale will produce a significant additional burden on the planet’s limited renewable energy resources irrespective of the technology employed. Harnessing photosynthesis to drive industrial-scale CO2 fixation has been of significant interest because of its minimal energy requirements and potential low costs. In this review, we evaluated the thermodynamic considerations of performing atmospheric carbon removal using microalgae and cyanobacteria versus physicochemical processes and explore the implications of these energetic costs on the scalability of each respective solution. We review the biomass productivities of recently discovered fast-growing cyanobacterial strains and discuss the prospects of genetically engineering certain metabolic pathways for channeling the fixed carbon into metabolic ‘carbon sinks’ to further enhance their CO2 capture while concurrently extracting value. We share our perspectives on how new highly productive chassis strains combined with advanced flux balance models, essentially coupling synthetic biology with industrial biotechnology, may unlock more favorable methods for CDR, both from an economic and thermodynamic perspective.

Source: Frontiers 

[Michael Hayes]

"these initiatives largely faltered due to inadequate biomass yields and the substantial expenses linked to lipid extraction techniques"

MH] Chlorine can be used to extract lipids from microalgae. Coupling electrolysis-based mCDR with microalgae production would give electrolysis-based Cl production a reasonable usage:

https://bmcplantbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12870-018-1614-9

Moreover, dark reduction of CO2, or chemosynthic cultivation of microalgae, can produce new H20 as a metabolic product, and using bubbling gasses, as found in chemosynthic cultivation, likely will grow denser crops as light penetration is no long a limiting factor:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-185X.1944.tb00298.x

I'm glad to see the newly discovered super microalgae brought to the table. Coupling such cultivars with OAE and chemosynthic cultivation methods should provide a robust biotic/abiotic mCDR tool that might have a chance to reach 10 GtC/y, a weight greater than all oceanic biomass.

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