Eco Factor: Carbon dioxide emission converted into carbonates.
Scientists over the world are experiment new ways to get rid of carbon dioxide that is emitted from power plants, cars and other industrial sources that rely on fossil fuels. One of the approaches that have become popular is the storage of gas underground in a process that is called carbon sequestration. Now an MIT engineer, Angela Belcher, is coming up with a completely different solution. The engineer wants to capture carbon dioxide from oceans and convert it into building materials.
By genetically engineering ordinary baker’s yeast, Belcher and her team of students have created a process that can convert carbon dioxide into carbonates that could be used as building materials. During tests, the process yielded about two pounds of carbonates for every pound of carbon dioxide captured. Drawing inspiration from marine animals that build their own rock-solid shells from carbon dioxide and mineral ions, Belcher engineered yeast to express genes found in such marine organisms.
Mimicking natural biological processes, Belcher and her team, have tried to make use of carbon dioxide as materials that can be stable for hundreds of thousands of years.
Via: Physorg
