About how to capture and exploit the CO₂ surplus that nature, per se, is not capable of fixing

Abstract

SummaryHuman activity has been altering many ecological cycles for decades, disturbing the natural mechanisms which are responsible for re‐establishing the normal environmental balances. Probably, the most disrupted of these cycles is the cycle of carbon. In this context, many technologies have been developed for an efficient CO 2 removal from the atmosphere. Once captured, it could be stored in large geological formations and other reservoirs like oceans. This strategy could present some environmental and economic problems. Alternately, CO 2 can be transformed into carbonates or different added‐value products, such as biofuels and bioplastics, recycling CO 2 from fossil fuel. Currently different methods are being studied in this field. We classified them into biological, inorganic and hybrid systems for CO 2 transformation. To be environmentally compatible, they should be powered by renewable energy sources. Although hybrid systems are still incipient technologies, they have made great advances in the recent years. In this scenario, biotechnology is the spearhead of ambitious strategies to capture CO 2 and reduce global warming.

Direct Electrochemical CO2 Capture Using Substituted Anthraquinones in Homogeneous Solutions: A Joint Experimental and Theoretical Study

“…In order to face the rising concentration of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere, new and feasible strategies for carbon capture and utilization are required. − Today the initial step of CO 2 capture is mainly realized via a thermal sorption/desorption process, − ,, and electrochemical CO 2 capture and release using organic carbonyl compounds is a new and promising alternative to these processes. Among those, quinones turned out to be the most promising material class due to their reversible reduction features involving two electrons.…”

A life cycle environmental sustainability analysis of microbial protein production via power-to-food approaches

“…Recently, a lot of research has focused on utilization of CO 2 into added-value products such as hydrocarbons (Godoy et al 2017;Khunjar et al 2012). Hydrocarbons can be produced using bacteria employing the Calvin cycle, in which carbon atoms from CO 2 are used to build threecarbon sugars, such as most species of H 2 -oxidizing bacteria (Kuenen 1999).…”

The contribution of microbial biotechnology to economic growth and employment creation

“…There are a number of parameters that can be taken into consideration for assessing the innovation level of a particular sector, including the annual number of patent applications/research papers published/scientific meetings, the rate of creation of new dedicated university departments, rate of creation of start-ups, and by all these parameters, biotechnology is seen to be highly innovative. For a current snapshot of innovations in diverse sectors of microbial biotechnology, the reader is directed to the contributions published in this issue, particularly those by (Alvarez and Fernandez, 2017;Caselli, 2017;Cordero et al, 2017;D€ urre, 2017;Felgner et al, 2017;Garcia, 2017;Godoy et al, 2017;Gurry, 2017;Lee, 2017;Li and Gadd, 2017;de Lorenzo, 2017;Macaskie and Orozco, 2017;Narancic and O'Connor, 2017;Nealson, 2017;Ramos, 2017;Schmidt-Dannert, 2017;Sherry et al, 2017;Trivedi et al, 2017;Verstraete and Devrieze, 2017;Webster, 2017)see also SDG 8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small-and mediumsized enterprises, including through access to financial services (see e.g. United Nations, 2015a,b).…”