Directed evolution of an ultrastable carbonic anhydrase for highly efficient carbon capture from flue gas

作者：Alvizo Oscar^*; Nguyen Luan J; Savile Christopher K; Bresson Jamie A; Lakhapatri Satish L; Solis Earl O P; Fox Richard J; Broering James M; Benoit Michael R; Zimmerman Sabrina A; Novick Scott J; Liang Jack; Lalonde James J

来源：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014, 111(46): 16436-16441.

DOI：10.1073/pnas.1411461111

• carbonic anhydrase
• directed evolution
• carbon capture

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) is one of nature's fastest enzymes and can dramatically improve the economics of carbon capture under demanding environments such as coal-fired power plants. The use of CA to accelerate carbon capture is limited by the enzyme's sensitivity to the harsh process conditions. Using directed evolution, the properties of a beta-class CA from Desulfovibrio vulgaris were dramatically enhanced. Iterative rounds of library design, library generation, and high-throughput screening identified highly stable CA variants that tolerate temperatures of up to 107 degrees C in the presence of 4.2 M alkaline amine solvent at pH > 10.0. This increase in thermostability and alkali tolerance translates to a 4,000,000-fold improvement over the natural enzyme. At pilot scale, the evolved catalyst enhanced the rate of CO2 absorption 25-fold compared with the noncatalyzed reaction.

• 出版日期2014-11-18