Chinese researchers have developed a groundbreaking method to convert carbon dioxide into white sugar, offering a potential solution to global challenges such as climate change and food insecurity. The team from the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has created a biotransformation system that produces sucrose from methanol—an alcohol that can be synthesized by hydrogenating carbon dioxide or derived from industrial waste. This innovation eliminates the need to cultivate sugar cane or sugar beets, crops that demand vast amounts of land and water.
The method utilizes an in vitro biotransformation (ivBT) platform, where enzymes are used to assemble complex carbohydrates from low-carbon molecules. According to the researchers, the artificial synthesis of food from carbon dioxide is not only environmentally beneficial but also addresses population-related pressures on agriculture. Sucrose, or white sugar, is traditionally sourced from crops grown under specific climate conditions, and China currently imports around 5 million tonnes annually due to limited domestic production. As climate change continues to affect global agriculture, alternative production systems are gaining urgency.
The research team achieved a high conversion yield of 86 percent by optimizing their ivBT pathway for shorter reaction steps and lower energy consumption. In addition to sucrose, the system successfully produced other valuable carbohydrates such as fructose, starch, amylose, amylopectin, cellobiose, and cellooligosaccharides. These substances are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Importantly, the process requires significantly less energy compared to existing methods of starch synthesis.
This achievement builds upon previous breakthroughs, including a 2021 development by CAS’s Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, where researchers introduced an efficient, low-temperature method to produce methanol from carbon dioxide. By integrating these technologies, scientists have opened a direct path from captured carbon emissions to sustainable food production.
The team emphasized that further research is needed to make the platform scalable and robust. This includes screening more efficient enzymes and improving system stability. Nonetheless, their work marks a critical step toward developing carbon-negative biomanufacturing platforms that could transform how the world produces food and chemicals, independent of traditional agriculture.
