According to a report recently organized by the Physicists Organization Network, researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, demonstrated for the first time the use of electricity to convert carbon dioxide into liquid fuel isobutanol. The relevant research report was published in the journal Science.
Professor Liu Junzhi and his colleagues in the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology Engineering of the College proposed a way to store electrical energy as a form of higher alcohol chemical energy that can be used as a liquid transportation fuel. Liao Junzhi said: “Lithium-ion batteries are generally used to store electricity. The storage density is very low, but when the fuel is stored in liquid form, the storage density can be significantly improved, and the new method also has the potential to use electricity as a transportation fuel without changing it. Existing infrastructure."
The team genetically modified a microorganism named "Rolstonia eutropha H16," using carbon dioxide as a single source of carbon, electricity as the only energy input, and producing isobutanol in an electronic bioreactor. Isopentanol (3-methyl-1-butanol).
Photosynthesis refers to the two stages of photosynthesis and dark reaction (also called carbon reaction) under the irradiation of visible light by plants, and the use of photosynthetic pigments to convert light energy into chemical energy and convert carbon dioxide (or hydrogen sulfide) and water. It is an organic matter and releases the biochemical process of oxygen (or hydrogen). In this study, scientists separated the light reaction from the carbon reaction, instead of using biological photosynthesis, they used solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity, and subsequently formed chemical intermediates to promote the fixation of carbon dioxide. Generate fuel. Liao Junzhi explained that this approach will be more effective than ordinary biological systems. The latter requires the planting of plants based on a large amount of cultivated land, and the new method allows solar panels to be placed in the desert or on the roof, since photoreactions and carbon reactions do not occur at the same time.
In theory, the hydrogen generated by solar power can promote the conversion of carbon dioxide in transgenic microorganisms to form high energy density liquid fuels. However, the low solubility, low mass migration, and safety concerns associated with hydrogen have constrained the efficiency and scalability of the process. Therefore, the research team used formic acid instead of hydrogen as an intermediate and an efficient energy carrier. Researchers said that they first use electricity to produce formic acid, and then use formic acid to promote the fixation of carbon dioxide in bacteria, producing isobutanol and higher alcohols in the dark.
Liao Junzhi stated that the formation of formate in electrochemistry, the fixation of carbon dioxide in biology, and the synthesis of higher alcohols have all opened up possibilities for the bio-conversion of electricity-driven carbon dioxide into various chemical substances. In addition, the conversion of formate to liquid fuels will also play an important role in the biomass refining process. (Zhang Hao)
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