Yeast plus electricity turned CO₂ into an ingredient for biodegradable plastic

Itaconic acid is a useful building block — it goes into biodegradable plastics and other bio-based products — but it is usually made from sugar. A team at BOKU University in Vienna and partners combined two processes in a single one-litre bioreactor: electricity first converted carbon dioxide into formate, a simple energy-rich liquid, and then an engineered yeast, Komagataella phaffii, ate the formate and produced itaconic acid. The yields were lower than when the yeast is fed sugar or methanol, and the team is open about that — but the chain works end to end, with no need to ship intermediates between separate plants. The study, published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, is a working proof that CO₂ itself can be the starting ingredient for complex, valuable chemicals — and the researchers now plan to optimise the process and try other microbes and products.

SDG 13 · Climate action — Mechanism: tech innovation