Chinese scientists have developed a method to turn the alcohol methanol into white sugar, which they say could allow captured carbon dioxide to be converted into food.
The team’s biotransformation system produces sucrose without the need to grow sugar cane or sugar beets – crops that require large amounts of land and water resources.
Their method to convert methanol – which can be derived from industrial waste or made by hydrogenating carbon dioxide – into sucrose using enzymes was also adapted to make other complex carbohydrates, including fructose and starch.
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Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?
Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?
“Artificial conversion of carbon dioxide into food and chemicals offers a promising strategy to address both environmental and population-related challenges while contributing to carbon neutrality,” the team said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Bulletin in May.
Reducing carbon dioxide to less complex molecules has proven successful, though the researchers said that generating long-chain carbohydrates – the most abundant substances in nature – has proven to be a challenge for scientists.
“In vitro biotransformation (ivBT) has emerged as a highly promising platform for sustainable biomanufacturing,” the team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology wrote.
“In this work, we successfully designed and implemented an [ivBT] system for sucrose synthesis from low-carbon molecules”.
Sucrose, or white sugar, is mainly obtained from sugar cane grown in warmer climates, such as Southeast Asia. The second major source is sugar beets grown in colder northern regions.
