{"id":23781,"date":"2023-01-26T13:18:24","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T07:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=23781"},"modified":"2023-01-26T13:18:26","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T07:33:26","slug":"artificial-photosynthesis-uses-sunlight-to-make-biodegradable-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/artificial-photosynthesis-uses-sunlight-to-make-biodegradable-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial photosynthesis uses sunlight to make biodegradable plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Osaka, Japan \u2013 In recent years, environmental problems caused by global warming have become more apparent due to greenhouse gases such as CO<sub>2<\/sub>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In natural photosynthesis, CO<sub>2<\/sub>\u00a0is not reduced directly but is bound to organic compounds which are converted to glucose or starch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mimicking this, artificial photosynthesis could reduce CO<sub>2<\/sub>\u00a0by combining it into organic compounds to be used as raw materials, which can be converted into durable forms such as plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;A research team led by Professor Yutaka Amao from the Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis and graduate student Mika Takeuchi, from the Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Science, have succeeded in synthesizing fumaric acid from CO<sub>2<\/sub>, a raw material for plastics, powered\u2014for the first time\u2014by sunlight. Their findings were published in&nbsp;<em>Sustainable Energy &amp; Fuels<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-23782\" width=\"844\" height=\"374\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png 668w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system-228x101.png 228w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 844px) 100vw, 844px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Fumaric acid synthesis from CO2 using solar energy. Using sunlight to power the photoredox system pyruvic acid and CO\u00ac2 are converted into fumaric acid, by malate dehydrogenase and fumarase.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;Fumaric acid is typically synthesized from petroleum, to be used as a raw material for making biodegradable plastics such as polybutylene succinate, but this discovery shows that fumaric acid can be synthesized from CO<sub>2<\/sub>&nbsp;and biomass-derived compounds using renewable solar energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;\u201cToward the practical application of artificial photosynthesis, this research has succeeded in using visible light\u2014renewable energy\u2014as the power source,\u201d explained Professor Amao. \u201cIn the future, we aim to collect gaseous CO<sub>2<\/sub>&nbsp;and use it to synthesize fumaric acid directly through artificial photosynthesis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In recent years, environmental problems caused by global warming have become more apparent due to greenhouse gases such as CO2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",668,296,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system-200x200.png",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",668,296,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",668,296,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",668,296,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",668,296,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",668,296,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",668,296,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",668,296,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system-600x296.png",600,296,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system-600x296.png",600,296,true],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",668,296,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system-550x296.png",550,296,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system-95x65.png",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",640,284,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",96,43,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photoredox-system.png",150,66,false]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"<a 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