Celebrate NJ! Science, Technology & Environment

Carbozyme By Monica Ting June 3, 2010

A series of four typhoons successively hit the Philippines in the fall of 2009. Typhoon Ketsana alone took the lives of more than 420 Filipinos. Eighty percent of its capital city, Manila, was flooded from the worst rainfall they’ve experienced in 40 years. If such cataclysms continue, the amount of causalities will multiply and the world’s population will soon diminish to a mere nothing. These calamities can no longer be considered natural disasters, but unnatural disasters. Humans have been intervening with nature by pouring artificial toxic chemicals into the atmosphere and contaminating it. It’s these lethal greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, that are damaging the earth, and the result is global climate change.

However, a little know company located in right here in New Jersey has found a solution leading us another step closer to a greener planet. Using an enzyme found right inside the blood of our own body, Carbozyme, Inc. plans to capture and separate carbon dioxide (CO₂) from a variety of gas streams. The enzyme carbonic anhydrases act as converters in our bodies, changing the high acidic CO₂ into bicarbonate for easier transport to the lungs. This same enzyme then works in reverse, allowing one to exhale the CO₂ during respiration. This process is emulated to isolate CO₂ from smokestack emissions. After being turned into bicarbonate and back, the CO₂ is pumped underground and buried beneath layers of basalt rock.

The U.S. Department of Energy granted nearly $24 million on October 23, 2006 to support carbon sequestration projects, two of which are conducted by Carbozyme, Inc. Secretary Bodman ensures that these carbon sequestrations will drastically reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions even as the economy grows. “This combination helps protect the global climate, while promoting job creation and a high standard of living.” Carbozyme’s project is estimated to use about a third less energy than other methods yet avoids using or producing noxious chemicals. Carbozyme, Inc. soon will be testing their project on coal burners at the University of Dakota. If their pilot project runs smoothly and effectively, the company will be licensed to enabling their efficient new finding on the notorious power plants.

New Jersey’s Carbozyme has received national recognition for its work, and meanwhile is spreading its idea of “clean coal” around the world. Carbozyme explicitly states on the homepage of its website that “the most important of the many potential applications for this technology is the capture of CO₂ from electric power generation flue gas stacks. This is a fundamental technology for combating increases in greenhouse gases and thereby mitigating global warming,” Catastrophes, such as those which occurred in the Philippines, will be less likely to endanger the lives of billions around the world. As an ongoing commitment, Carbozyme is gradually developing improved ideas and designs to suit their various customers. In the end, a change is essential in order for humans survive in peace and harmony with nature.