To make the chemical industry independent on fossil resources, carbon-containing feedstocks need to be derived from CO2 as a carbon source, because there is not enough biomass material available. Methanogens are microbes that are specialized to convert CO2 and hydrogen to the one-carbon product methane (biogas). Modified enzymes would be required to produce multi-carbon products that could replace oil. This Multi-C1 project develops the 2 most important enzymes for such a potential biotechnological process. For both enzymes, the following 3 aims are included in the project: Aim 1 targets the fundamental understanding of their biochemistry. Aim 2 tests the compatibility of the enzymes with the biotechnological microbes to be utilized in a potential future application. Aim 3 develops the production of the hydrocarbon propane as a case study. Overall, my project aims to solve bottlenecks in biotechnologically producing multi-carbon feedstocks from CO2 and renewable hydrogen.

2025

2029