Researchers achieve compound breakthrough for industrial use

Research sponsored by the Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs Ministry and the Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology was posted Monday on the online version of the Chemosphere, a prestigious journal on the environment. A patent application has been filed for the study.

The ministry said Wednesday that carbonic anhydrase catalyzes carbon dioxide and water to convert into carbonic acid, which interacts with action to produce a carbonic compound. The compound can be used either for industrial materials such as paper, plastic, rubber, cement, paint and toothpaste or for medical products such as calcium supplements or artificial bones.

Scientists had focused on containing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but are now trying to use carbon dioxide as a resource. The research team started the project in this context.

The team added molecular biotechnology to the principle that carbon dioxide in the air is stored as a carbonic acid compound after biomineralization in nature. Biomineralization refers to the process of an organism absorbing organic matter such as protein and carbohydrate and non-organic matters such as minerals to produce skin or bones.

“The research is significant in that it applied reassembled carbonic anhydrase, which can be mass produced in the course of converting carbon dioxide, the culprit of greenhouse gas emissions, to value-added carbonic acid compound,” the head of the research team said. “I’ll do more research on making the conversion of carbon dioxide more economical.”

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