Pyrolitic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass, such as switchgrass and other agricultural residues, to bio-fuels is being considered for national energy security and for environmental advantages. Bio-oil, syngas and bio-char were produced and characterized from switchgrass at 400, 500 and 600 0C by pyrolysis. Bio-oil yield increased from 22 to 37%, syn-gas yield increased from 8 to 26%, and b...

Photosynthesis, biological nitrogen fixation, and carbon dioxide assimilation are three fundamental biological processes catalyzed by photosynthetic bacteria. In the present study, it is shown that mutant strains of the nonsulfur purple photosynthetic bacteria Rhodospirillum rubrum and Rhodobacter sphaeroides, containing a blockage in the primary CO2 assimilatory pathway, derepress the synthesi...

Engineering cyanobacteria for production of chemicals from solar energy, CO2 and water is a potential approach to address global energy and environment issues such as greenhouse effect. To date, more than 20 chemicals have been synthesized by engineered cyanobacteria using CO2 as raw materials, and these studies have been well reviewed. However, unlike heterotrophic microorganisms, the low CO2 ...

Real-time methods to monitor stable isotope ratios of CO2 are needed to identify biogeochemical origins of CO2 emissions from the soil-air interface. An isotope ratio infra-red spectrometer (IRIS) has been developed to measure CO2 mixing ratio with δ(13)C isotopic signature, in addition to mixing ratios of other greenhouse gases (CH4, N2O). The original aspects of the instrument as well as its ...

Hybrid bio-thermochemical based technologies have the potential to ensure greater feedstock flexibility for production of bioenergy and bioproducts. This study focused on bioconversion syngas produced from low grade technical lignin C2-/C4-carboxylic acids by Butyribacterium methylotrophicum. The effects pH, medium supplementation use crude were analyzed. At pH 6.0, B. methylotrophicum consumed...

The O2 and CO2 compensation points (O2 and CO2) of plants in a closed system depend on the ratio of CO2 and O2 concentrations in air and in the chloroplast and the specificities of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco). The photosynthetic O2 is defined as the atmospheric O2 level, with a given CO2 level and temperature, at which net O2 exchange is zero. In experiments with C3 pl...

The enhancement of CO2 fixation in isolated, intact spinach chloroplasts by ascorbate or by low sulfite concentrations (less than 1 mM) is strongly reduced or even abolished by the addition of superoxide dismutase (SOD). By the use of 35SO3(2-) it is demonstrated that the rate of sulfate formation is much lower than the sulfite induced increase in CO2 fixation. This indicates that the superoxid...

Cyanobacteria have attracted much attention as hosts to recycle CO2 into valuable chemicals. Although cyanobacteria have been engineered to produce various compounds, production efficiencies are too low for commercialization. Here we engineer the carbon metabolism of Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 to improve glucose utilization, enhance CO2 fixation and increase chemical production. We introd...

The ultimate goal of this research is to construct a new direct CO2 fixation system using photosystems in living algae. Here, we report light-driven formate production from CO2 by using cyanobacterial photosystem I (PS I). Formate, a chemical hydrogen carrier and important industrial material, can be produced from CO2 by using the reducing power and the catalytic function of formate dehydrogena...

sence of exogenously added glutamate and pyridoxal-5'-phosphate and produced radioactive aspartate in the presence of these components. Reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide or reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate could not be substituted for adenosine triphosphate (ATP); phosphoenolpyruvate even in the presence of nucleoside diphosphates could not replace pyruvate plus ATP; ...