Carbon mineralization is among the most permanent storage technologies of anthropogenic CO2.  We propose reinventing this technology to directly fix CO2 in flue-gas as a novel carbon capture process. Carbonate ions from the hydration of CO2 gas and magnesium ions from mineral dissolution form a thermodynamically stable salt.  Due to the slow rate of uncatalyzed-CO2 hydration at near-neutral pH, catalysis would result in a higher rate of carbon capture.  We have developed whole-cell biocatalyst through periplasmic enzyme immobilization.  The motivation behind this work is to increase the recyclability of the enzyme and decrease the cost of obtaining the catalyst by eliminating protein purification. Through the use of stopped-flow kinetic measurements, kinetic parameters for the immobilized enzymes have been obtained, and we have explored the effects of diffusion across the outer cell membrane of bacterial cells on the catalytic rate, one of the limiting factors to the feasibility of this system.

Development of a whole-cell biocatalyst for permanent carbon capture and storage: Immobilization of carbonic anhydrase in the periplasmic space of <i>Escherichia coli</i>

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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Development of a whole-cell biocatalyst for permanent carbon capture and storage: Immobilization of carbonic anhydrase in the periplasmic space of Escherichia coli