In California, biologists at the University of California, Irvine, have found a way to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide using a key enzyme that regulates nitrogen. The researchers believe this technology can be used for biofuel synthesis and other commercial applications. The bacterium they extracted from the nitrogenase enzyme converts carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide quite effectively and surprised researchers since that enzyme was thought to only convert nitrogen to ammonia in the past.
This new conversion could be used to recycle carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere into biofuels and other chemical products, making it an attractive environmentally friendly alternative to attack two birds – global warming and energy needs – with one stone.