CO2 turned into starch: China's new method boosts productivity by 10x

Researchers at the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology have developed a novel enzymatic process to synthesize starch directly from carbon dioxide, bypassing the need for plants and photosynthesis. This method, which converts CO2 into methanol and then into sugars before polymerizing them into starch through about eleven steps, is reported to be ten times more productive than their previous attempts. The resulting starch is nearly identical to conventional cornstarch but can be produced in controlled laboratory conditions, offering more predictable yields and significantly reducing reliance on farmland and freshwater resources. This innovation addresses environmental concerns associated with traditional starch production, which depends heavily on corn cultivation that consumes large amounts of land, water, fertilizers, and pesticides. By using CO2 as a raw material and optimized enzymes to enhance reaction efficiency and lower energy costs, the process could potentially save over 90% of cultivated land and freshwater if scaled economically. While the tenfold improvement refers to progress over the team’s earlier work rather than surpassing natural starch production from corn,