Synthetic Carbon Assimilation Surpasses Nature

New-to-Nature Pathway Outperforms Natural Pathway in Living Bacteria

07-Mar-2025 - For the first time, an international collaboration has demonstrated that synthetic carbon assimilation can operate more efficiently in a living system than its natural counterpart. Researchers in Tobias Erb’s lab at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology engineered a synthetic ...

BASF receives funding approval for the construction of the world’s largest industrial heat pump for CO2-free steam generation

Greenhouse gas emissions from formic acid production at the Ludwigshafen site reduced by up to 98 percent

17-Oct-2024 - BASF has received funding approval from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action for the construction of the world’s most powerful industrial heat pump. In the coming months, the company will therefore be able to start the preparatory construction work for the project ...

From waste to value: The right electrolytes can enhance glycerol oxidation

"Our research could help to convert biomass by-products into valuable chemicals more efficiently"

03-Jul-2024 - When biomass is converted into biodiesel, huge amounts of glycerol are produced as a by-product. So far, however, this by-product has been little utilised, even though it could be processed into more valuable chemicals through oxidation in photoelectrochemical reactors. The reason for this: low ...

Recycling carbon dioxide into household chemicals

New catalyst transforms carbon dioxide from industrial emissions into commonly used chemicals

23-May-2024 - A low-cost, tin-based catalyst can selectively convert carbon dioxide to three widely produced chemicals — ethanol, acetic acid and formic acid. Lurking within the emissions from many industrial operations is an untapped resource — carbon dioxide (CO2). A contributor of greenhouse gas and global ...

Harvesting more solar energy with supercrystals

An impetus for greener hydrogen production

04-Dec-2023 - Hydrogen is a building block for the energy transition. To obtain it with the help of solar energy, LMU researchers have developed new high-performance nanostructures. The material holds a world record for green hydrogen production with sunlight. When Emiliano Cortés goes hunting for sunlight, he ...

Efficient Biohybrid Batteries

Fast-Charging Hybrid Microbial Fuel Cell and CO2 Electrolyzer, Based on Formic Acid

02-Nov-2023 - Formic acid, which can be produced electrochemically from carbon dioxide, is a promising energy carrier. A Chinese research team have now developed a fast-charging hybrid battery system that combines the electrochemical generation of formic acid as an energy carrier with a microbial fuel cell. As ...

Capturing CO2 with electricity: A microbial enzyme inspires electrochemistry

Towards a new solution for atmospheric CO2 utilization

04-Oct-2023 - Humans continuously emits greenhouse gases, worsening global warming. For example, carbon dioxide (CO2) accumulates dramatically over the years and is chemically very stable. Yet, some microbes capture CO2 using highly efficient enzymes. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine ...

Hydrogen march! The Energy Carrier of the Future is Obtained at LIKAT from a Simple Ester

Unexpectedly powerful start

28-Jun-2023 - In sustainable energy concepts, hydrogen (H2) is considered a favorite. The gas is volatile and explosive, which is why chemistry labs around the world are exploring ways to store it. In the journal NATURE CATALYSIS, a group led by Dr. Henrik Junge at LIKAT in Rostock, Germany, proposes the ...

With formic acid towards CO₂ neutrality

Researchers develop a new method for the sustainable use of CO₂

16-May-2023 - New synthetic metabolic pathways for CO2 fixation could not only help to reduce the CO2 content of the atmosphere, but also replace conventional chemical manufacturing processes for pharmaceuticals and active ingredients with carbon-neutral, biological processes. A new study demonstrates a ...

From a greenhouse gas to an industrial raw material

06-Dec-2022 - Rather than being released into the atmosphere and exacerbating the problem of climate change, CO2 can also be used as a raw material for substances required in industrial processes, such as formic acid or methanol. The conversion of CO2 has already been investigated in detail in laboratory ...