A new project, this time developed by the Harvard University School of Medicine, has resulted in the creation of an interesting system by which it is possible to convert CO2 into 3D biopolymers, that is, it is possible to transform carbon dioxide emissions into plastic that can be used by any 3D printer the planet.
Undoubtedly great news both for terrestrial life and for future explorations that human beings can do in outer space, especially on Mars, where the planet's atmosphere is mainly composed of this element that, now, can facilitate , without a doubt, the ddevelopment of the first colonies once we get to the planet.
Harvard researchers manage to develop a methodology by which, through the use of bacteria, plastic for 3D printing can be created from CO2
Based on the statements made by one of the researchers who has worked on the project, Shannon nangle:
The team has been able to find a way to use the bacterium R. eutropha to be able to transform CO2 into usable polymeric compounds, something that can not only be used in outer space, but also on Earth.
Bacteria can actually fill your cells with almost 80 percent of this polymer. It is not an ideal material for industrial processing, so what we want to do is use metabolic engineering techniques to really modulate the material properties of this polymer in such a way that we can use it for 3D printing, injection molding and other machining. industrial type.
CO2 can be used a lot in the way plants use CO2. The bacterium is already adapted to extract it in air in the same way as plants.