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bioRxiv
BIORXIV
bioRxiv
2692-8205
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

10.1101/2024.08.28.610213
preprint
1
Article
Multi-scale reactor designs extend the physical limits of CO 2 fixation
Akbari Amir http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4826-078X

Palsson Bernhard O. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2357-6785

30 8 2024
2024.08.28.610213https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
http://biorxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2024.08.28.610213
nihpp-2024.08.28.610213.pdf
Abstract

CO 2 valorization is a promising strategy for climate adaptation and transitioning towards a circular carbon economy. Here, we present a multi-scale, integrated systems approach for designing biomanufacturing systems that can utilize CO 2 as a feedstock, focusing on the Wood–Ljungdahl and reductive glycine pathways. This approach relies on first principles, coupling the optimization of pathway and process variables. We examine the CO 2 -fixation capacity of both pathways in single- and multi-compartment reactor systems, demonstrating that the reductive glycine pathway has the potential to fix CO 2 at significantly higher rates than photosynthetic organisms. We show that small differences in the energy-dissipative and stoichiometric structures of carbon-fixation pathways could significantly impact optimal designs and feasible design spaces. Our first-principle, systems-level approach quantifies these differences and uncovers strategies to expand the design space and extend the physical limits of carbon fixation, offering insights into pathway selection and process configurations for efficient biomanufacturing.
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