Biotechnology as a tool for capturing and recycling of CO₂

The concentration of CO₂ has reached very high levels, which has tremendous negative impact on climate and threatens the environment. Although, much emphasis has been given on reducing GHG emissions, carbon capture and storage (CCS) are also needed. Several studies have shown that reduction of CO₂ emissions are not enough to stop serious global warming. Innovative methods are needed to store or recycle CO₂. However, the most of the proposed methods for CO₂ storage seem to be very expensive and technologically difficult. On the contrary, biotechnology can play an important role in capturing CO₂ in products and thereby recycle it. The biological capture of CO₂ in microbial cells, has emerged as a promising way of recycling CO₂. Indeed, binding of CO₂ to various high value products, such as proteins (e.g., microbial cells containing high content of proteins using methanotrophic bacteria), or functional foods containing high content of antioxidants, or biosuccinic acid using bacteria (e.g., Actinobacillus succinogenes) or biomethane using archaea, are some of the promising solutions for carbon capture and use (CCU). Recent techno-economic analyses and life cycle assessments have clearly shown that biotechnological processes that recycle and upgrade CO₂ into high-value end-products, and at the same time use all the individual components of the biomass in a cascade based approach show promising prospects for a sustainable use of the biomass resources. In this presentation, I will present results from various biotechnological approaches by which CO₂ is incorporated into biostimulants, biomethane, biosuccinic acid and single cell proteins for food/feed purposes.