Bacteria Saving Humans — Carbon Recycling
We are pumping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. This is the most efficient way to kill the earth, and ourselves.
416 Parts Per Million. The most carbon dioxide that has been in the atmosphere since humans have existed.
2019. The second warmest year on record
800 Million People. All vulnerable to climate change. Floods. Droughts. Heat Waves.
These facts are all pretty sad, but there are technological advancements that have the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, possibly solving these problems. For good.
Carbon is everywhere. Your clothes, water bottles, anything around you.
Before you buy something, it has to be made. During the process of manufacturing something, in the modern world we put carbon into the atmosphere. Where does this carbon come from? The ground. Fossil fuels… You get what I’m saying. We are non-stop putting the carbon in the ground (where it is harmless) into the air.
A New Perspective, Synthetic Biology
Let’s think of this problem from a new perspective — like LanzaTech. Instead of deleting carbon from the atmosphere, what if we recycled it?
Bacteria🔬
These bacteria have been evolving for billions of years. They basically are machines built for gas capturing, carbon dioxide in this case.
“Now Timucin, what is C₂H₆O?” I hear you ask. That’s ethanol. What’s so good about ethanol?
Ethanol can be used to make ethylene. From Ethylene we can make PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride). With those two materials we can make a bunch of things. When I say a bunch, I mean A LOT. Think of it, what isn’t made of plastic?
Carbon Consuming Machines
LanzaTech’s microscopic friends turn carbon into ethanol using fermentation. Fermentation happens in 2 ways.
Mitochondrial Respiration
A cell sends a molecule to an organelle of itself, called mitochondria. This molecule is classified as food to the organism. Usually, this is glucose. In animals and plants mitochondria take in oxygen and glucose, turn it into APT (basically energy), water and carbon dioxide.
Cytoplasmic Fermentation
With a mitochondria available, cells usually don’t even use this method of respiration since it is much less energy efficient, and also produces “tiny bursts” of energy rather than a constant output. However, there are many many cases where mitochondria are not available, furthermore non-existent. This method of fermentation takes place in the cytoplasm of the cell. It is stored there and broken down by enzymes which releases heat energy.
TLDR:
LanzaTech is sucking carbon out of the atmosphere using bacteria that enjoy a meal of CO2. These bacteria output ethanol which can be used to make plastics, turning pollution into products!
Resources:
- www.conservation.org | October 29, 2020 |
- www.arpae-summit.com | November 1, 2020 |
- http://www.petresin.org | November 1, 2020 |
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