Ma Yanhe, Tianjin Institute of Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Construction of a ton scale pilot plant for carbon dioxide artificial synthesis of starch

The scientific research achievements of "carbon dioxide synthetic starch" have attracted much attention before. At the second carbon peak carbon neutrality science and technology forum of Zhongguancun Forum held on May 27, Ma Yanhe, director of Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that at present, the scientific research team has established a ton scale pilot plant for carbon dioxide synthetic starch, which is being tested Simultaneously advancing technology and engineering.

Ma Yanhe, Director of Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered a keynote speech at the second carbon neutrality Science and Technology Forum of Zhongguancun Forum. Provided by the organizer

Countries pay high attention to biotransformation and utilization of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide emissions and climate change have become global concerns. At present, the industrialization process has broken the balance of the natural carbon cycle system, and the carbon dioxide "regulators" such as forests, oceans and wetlands cannot fully recover the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from fossil resources.

"Under the goal of" double carbon ", if we can use carbon dioxide as industrial raw material, it will provide strategic support for economic green sustainable development." Ma Yanhe said that carbon dioxide conversion and utilization ways include physical storage, chemical conversion and biotransformation. Currently, chemical conversion can convert 500 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, with great potential. In terms of biotransformation, after hundreds of millions of years of natural evolution, autotroph on the earth have formed a natural and exquisite carbon dioxide fixation and transformation utilization system, which can transform more than 100 billion tons of carbon into various organic substances every year.

However, the natural biotransformation of carbon dioxide is inefficient and slow, which is difficult to reach the level of industrial application. Compared with photovoltaic and ethanol fermentation industries, the energy efficiency of carbon dioxide biotransformation is more than 10 times, and the carbon fixation speed is more than 100 times, which is difficult to support the industrial raw material utilization of carbon dioxide.

He stated that with the development of biotechnology, it is very important to learn from nature, transform nature, design artificial biological carbon sequestration and material synthesis pathways, break through the natural limitations of organisms, and obtain the ability to efficiently utilize energy and synthesize substances. We can expand the capacity boundaries of natural organisms through biotechnology. According to him, foreign experts also believe that using industrial biotechnology to convert carbon dioxide into complex chemicals, materials, fuels, pharmaceuticals, and food, and establishing a new paradigm of industrial biological manufacturing using carbon dioxide as raw material, has great potential.

All countries pay high attention to carbon dioxide biotransformation, especially European and American countries have formulated their own plans and roadmaps for using biotechnology to fix carbon dioxide or use carbon dioxide as industrial raw materials. He said, for example, in terms of industrial biotransformation routes, more forms of energy are used, and more ways of carbon fixation are expanded. Carbon dioxide can be directly transformed by industrial organisms, or it can be first transformed into carbon monoxide, methanol, acetic acid, etc. using chemical technology, and then used as raw materials to cultivate organisms and synthesize sugar, ethanol and other multi carbon compounds. Recently, researchers have made a series of progress in the biosynthesis of carbon dioxide into organic molecules, including the use of carbon dioxide to artificially synthesize amino acids.

Carbon dioxide artificial synthesis of starch is solving the economic feasibility problem

In September 2021, the Chinese Academy of Sciences released a blockbuster scientific research achievement - Tianjin Industrial Biotechnology Research Institute, in conjunction with Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, achieved De novo synthesis synthesis of carbon dioxide to starch for the first time by means of synthetic biology.

Ma Yanhe introduced this research process. He said that crops convert solar energy, carbon dioxide, and water into starch through photosynthesis. It has been a dream of scientists for many years to synthesize starch without relying on plant photosynthesis. "The essence of solar energy transfer to starch is a biochemical process of carbon reduction and gradual polymerization from simple molecules to complex molecules. According to the concept of synthetic biology, researchers have designed a biochemical pathway for starch synthesis from the bottom up."

Firstly, a virtual pathway for carbon dioxide to starch was designed from massive biochemical reaction data. Then, 62 biological enzyme catalysts from 31 different species such as animals, plants, and microorganisms were excavated and modified. Finally, 10 enzymes were screened to gradually convert one carbon of methanol into three carbon of dihydroxyacetone, further convert into six carbon of glucose phosphate, and finally convert into starch. This pathway only involves 11 biochemical reactions, resulting in starch production efficiency exceeding that of corn photosynthesis.

He said that this study has opened up new avenues for the industrial synthesis of starch using carbon dioxide and has received high attention since its release. Everyone has given high praise, but currently this is only a theoretical approach, far from practicality, mainly due to high process costs. Our main task now is to solve the economic feasibility problem of this approach

It is reported that the initial starch synthesized in the laboratory was only about 1 gram. Recently, the technology of synthesizing starch from carbon dioxide has been further improved. At the same time, the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has established a ton scale pilot plant for carbon dioxide artificial synthesis of starch, which is currently undergoing testing and is advancing in theory, technology, and engineering simultaneously.

Ma Yanhe said that using carbon dioxide as an industrial raw material has broad prospects for the biosynthesis of agricultural and petrochemical products. Last year, American scientists analyzed and believed that the artificial synthesis of carbohydrates from carbon dioxide is a major strategy to solve greenhouse gas emissions and food security "two birds with one stone". They called on global interdisciplinary scientists to collaborate and accelerate the commercial feasibility of achieving a scale of 1 billion tons per year. Once achieved, compared to agricultural cultivation, land savings will be greater than 500 times and water savings will be 1300 to 1600 times.

He said that agricultural industrialization is an opportunity for paradigm change. "With the development of green energy, a strategic window of opportunity that can change the pattern of agriculture and industry has opened".

It is reported that the second carbon neutrality Science and Technology Forum of Zhongguancun Forum was co sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology. The forum invited 12 academicians and experts in the dual carbon field at home and abroad, including Xu Nanping, Zhan Wenlong, Nie Zuoren, Ouyang Minggao, Wu Lizhu, Wei Chang, Ding Yulong, Chen Zhongwei, ClaraCamarasa, Feng Wei, Ma Yanhe, Zhu Qingshan, to carry out in-depth exchanges around the "development and innovation of energy critical science and technology" Exploring the technological path of energy revolution and industrial green transformation and upgrading in the fields of advanced nuclear energy, new power systems, renewable energy and energy storage.

New Beijing News reporter Zhang Lu

Editor Chen Jing Proofread Wu Xingfa