New breakthrough in the technology of artificially synthesizing starch with carbon dioxide. Is it far from the time when "drinking northwest wind" becomes a fashion?

Recently, Chinese scientists have made breakthroughs in the technology of artificially synthesizing starch using carbon dioxide. This is another major disruptive and original breakthrough made by Chinese scientists in the field of artificially synthesizing starch, following the world's first artificial synthesis of crystalline bovine insulin in the 1960s. It is the first time in the world to achieve the de novo synthesis of starch from carbon dioxide in a laboratory.

This is the second pinnacle breakthrough in my country's scientific field. What is synthesized is a complex organic substance such as starch, which is also the main component of our food!

This is truly a disruptive technology. “Drinking the northwest wind” may become a fashion (haha)! Today, let’s share with you this major technological breakthrough~

01. Characteristics of this synthesis

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The title of this paper is "Cell-free chemoenzymatic starch synthesis from carbon dioxide"

As can be seen from the title, the biggest feature of this synthesis is that it does not use cells (cell-free). Because in nature, cells can synthesize starch from carbon dioxide. I believe you must know that this is the famous photosynthesis.

However, the problem with photosynthesis is that it must have chloroplasts to be completed. For the vast majority of organisms on Earth, that is, plants and some animals, the requirements are very high.

The characteristic of this research is: pure industrial/laboratory synthesis.

The roadmap for this research is as follows:

Briefly speaking, the experiment is as follows:

First, carbon dioxide is reduced to methanol using an inorganic catalyst.

Methanol is then converted into three carbon

Next is the synthesis of six carbons from three carbons

Finally, it polymerizes into starch.

Compared with standard natural starch, its structure is basically the same

Both the absorption peak and the nuclear magnetic resonance signal prove that this synthetic starch is very close to natural starch.

The picture below is a physical picture of synthetic starch.

02. The significance of starch synthesis

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The significance of starch synthesis, let's talk about it from small to large:

1. Simple steps

This synthesis only requires a few steps. In contrast, in nature, organisms synthesize starch from carbon dioxide, which requires about 60 biochemical reactions and complex physiological regulation.

This artificial synthesis involves about 11 steps.

It is important to note that the scientists did not simply cut out more than 60 steps to get 11 steps, but designed a new path. They first calculated a minimalist path from the biochemical reactions of many kinds of organisms, but this path was calculated, and the various steps were not very compatible in actual operation, for example, the required reaction conditions were not the same. The scientists then used modular thinking and selected different reaction processes to find this 11-step reaction path.

2. Fast speed and high efficiency

The rate of this laboratory synthesis is 8.5 times that of corn starch.

In a chemoenzymatic system with spatial and temporal segregation, ASAP, driven by hydrogen, converts CO2 to starch at a rate of 22 nanomoles of CO2 per minute per milligram of total catalyst, an ~8.5-fold higher rate than starch synthesis in maize. Theoretically, the annual starch production of a 1-cubic-meter bioreactor is equivalent to the annual starch production of 5 mu of corn fields in my country. This new route makes it possible to transform starch production from traditional agricultural planting to industrial manufacturing, and opens up a new technical route for synthesizing complex molecules from CO2.

In addition, according to reports, its efficiency is also high. The efficiency of synthesizing starch in nature is about 2% (corn), while the efficiency of industrial synthesis can reach more than 10%.

Inspired by natural photosynthesis, researchers have further developed efficient chemical catalysts based on the technology of solar energy decomposition of water to produce green hydrogen. They reduce carbon dioxide into methanol and other one-carbon compounds (C1) that are more easily soluble in water, completing the conversion of light energy - electrical energy - chemical energy. The energy conversion efficiency of this process exceeds 10%, far exceeding the energy utilization efficiency of photosynthesis (2%), and also laid a theoretical foundation for the subsequent use of biocatalysis to synthesize starch.

3. Vision

Solving agricultural problems: Food is the primary need of the people. Agricultural problems have always been related to the survival of mankind. The use of this industrial method can solve the problem of arable land and fresh water resources needed for agriculture, avoid the use of pesticides and fertilizers, and improve food security.

The cultivated land area in my country is more than 1.5 million square kilometers, accounting for about 16% of the land area. That is to say, less than one-fifth, and the remaining four-fifths of the land area cannot be used as cultivated land. This has made my country's food problem very serious.

With this technology, mountain valleys, deserts, and ice fields can all become agricultural production areas.

Since ancient times, my country's water transport system has been very busy transporting grain and other materials. With this technology, the north and even further north can directly produce starch, and the gap between the north and the south can be greatly alleviated.

4. Greenhouse problem? What about global warming?

Global warming can be said to be a problem that has been plaguing all mankind over the years.

Many people have been worried that the core factor causing global warming is the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Industrial production, automobile emissions, etc. are all factors that lead to the increase of carbon dioxide. Although plants have been continuously fixing carbon dioxide, they are still not as high as carbon dioxide emissions.

But with this technology, carbon dioxide can be fixed directly, which is much more efficient than agriculture and plants. Can the greenhouse gas problem be solved?

5. The more distant future

Space stations and even going into space are all possible. In the past, we envisioned that to solve the problem of long-distance space travel, we had to carry food or put humans into hibernation to reduce energy consumption.

Even if you enter the depths of the universe, as long as you wake up, you will always need food. That's why there are many science fictions about alien farming, such as "The Martian" where people go to Mars to grow potatoes.

However, with artificial synthetic starch, these problems can be well solved. Even in barren land, as long as there is carbon dioxide and related materials, starch can be directly synthesized.

For example, the atmosphere of Mars is mainly carbon dioxide, accounting for as much as 96%, which is simply a new granary.

Moreover, carbon dioxide itself is a waste product of human metabolism and can be directly recycled.

6. One question: energy!

The conversion of starch to carbon dioxide is a gradual process of energy release.

Glucose then turns into carbon dioxide

This step is equivalent to swimming upstream, which requires energy.

So, where does the energy come from?

In fact, contrary to what many people imagine, one of the significant significances of this research is that the energy they use is solar energy.

This is also the "liquid sunshine" of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, another cooperative unit of this article. Scientists vividly call it "liquid sunshine" to turn solar energy into liquid fuel. This technology is led by Academician Li Can of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Of course, the energy consumption here must exceed this demand, so additional energy is needed. Currently, many new energy sources are being studied, especially nuclear energy, and it is hoped that controlled nuclear fusion can be achieved in 50 years.

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Finally, I think some people will say that it is still too early for this technology to be applied. This is inevitable, but I believe everyone can see its importance.

Once a noble lady asked Faraday, the discoverer of electricity, "What is the use of electricity?" Faraday cleverly asked back, "What is the use of a newborn baby?"

ps: Don’t easily think that you are smarter than science

Paper link: DOI: 10.1126/science.abh4049