The Economic Times of India, 16 February 2009

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Global_Warming/Indian_experts_find_b

acteria_to_beat_global_heat/articleshow/4134025.cms

Bacteria Capture CO2

Rajiv Mani, TNN

ALLAHABAD: In a major breakthrough that could help in the fight against

global warming, a team of five Indian scientists from four institutes of

the

country have discovered a naturally occurring bacteria which converts

carbon dioxide (CO2) into a compound found in limestone and chalk.

When used as an enzyme - biomolecules that speed up a chemical reaction

- the bacteria has been found to transform CO2 into calcium carbonate

(CaCO3), which can fetch minerals of economic value, said Dr Anjana

Sharma from the biosciences department of RD University, Jabalpur, who

was part of the Rs 98.6 lakh project sponsored by the department of

biotechnology (DBT) under the Union science and technology ministry.

CO2 is a greenhouse gas produced in the burning of fossil fuels and

other industrial activities. The rising emissions of CO2 in the

atmosphere is chiefly responsible for global warming. Reducing CO2

levels is the single most important strategy to fight global warming and

the resulting effects of climate change.

"The enzyme can be put to work in any situation, like in a chamber

fitted inside a factory chimney through which CO2 would pass before

being emitted into the atmosphere, and it would convert the greenhouse

gas into calcium carbonate,'' Dr Sadhana Rayalu, the project coordinator

who is from the National Environmental Engineering and Research

Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, told TOI on phone from Nagpur.

This potentially means that the bacteria - extracted from a number of

places including brick kilns in Satna, Madhya Pradesh - can be used to

take out CO2 from its sources of emission itself.

posted to ClimateConcern