An international team of scientists from the United States and Italy has discovered a new species of cyanobacteria, or microalgae, that is particularly effective at removing carbon dioxide from water. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Applied Environmental Microbiology (AEM).
The species was found off the coast of the island of Vulcano in northern Sicily, where the sea is rich in carbon due to shallow volcanic vents.
“This naturally occurring species of cyanobacteria has a number of properties that may be useful to humans, including a tendency to grow very densely and naturally sink in water, making Chonkus a particularly interesting organism for future carbon removal and biomanufacturing studies,” the co-author said. ” he said. The author of the article is Dr. D. of Harvard University’s Wyss Institute. Max Schubert.
To enable the target cyanobacteria to grow, the researchers replicated the conditions in which fast-growing algae would thrive: heat, light and plenty of carbon dioxide. Two fast-growing strains of cyanobacteria UTEX 3221 and UTEX 3222 were found in enriched cultures.
The team focused on UTEX 3222 because of its single-celled size, which facilitates comparison with existing cyanobacterial species.
UTEX 3222 produced larger colonies than other known fast-growing cyanobacterial strains, and its individual cells were also larger. Because of this feature, he was given the name Chonkus, which roughly means “Fat Man” in English.
‘Oily’ reached a higher density and had a higher total carbon content compared to other types.
Importantly, Chonkus quickly settled into a dense, “green peanut butter”-like precipitate at the bottom of the sample tubes, while other strains remained suspended. This behavior is particularly valuable for industrial processing, as biomass concentration and drying currently account for 15-30% of production costs.
The team believes that Fat Man could be a raw material for the production of omega-3 fatty acids, the antioxidant astaxanthin, and the nutritional supplement spirulina.
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