Real flue gas CO hydrogenation to formate by an enzymatic reactor using O- and CO-tolerant hydrogenase and formate dehydrogenase.

It is challenging to capture carbon dioxide (CO), a major greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, due to its high chemical stability. One potential practical solution to eliminate CO is to convert CO into formate using hydrogen (H) (CO hydrogenation), which can be accomplished with inexpensive hydrogen from sustainable sources. While industrial flue gas could provide an adequate source of hydrogen, a suitable catalyst is needed that can tolerate other gas components, such as carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen (O), potential inhibitors. Our proposed CO hydrogenation system uses the hydrogenase derived from H16 (ReSH) and formate dehydrogenase derived from AM1 (MeFDH1). Both enzymes are tolerant to CO and O, which are typical inhibitors of metalloenzymes found in flue gas. We have successfully demonstrated that combining ReSH- and MeFDH1-immobilized resins can convert H and CO in real flue gas to formate via a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent cascade reaction. We anticipated that this enzyme system would enable the utilization of diverse H and CO sources, including waste gases, biomass, and gasified plastics.