Algae hold great potential for environmentally friendly energy production

In interdisciplinary cooperation, a Bochum-based research team has made a discovery that could lead to more environmental protection in the chemical industry.

Many substances that we use every day only work in the right 3D structure. Natural enzymes could produce these in an environmentally friendly way – if they didn’t need a co-substrate that is expensive to produce to date. A research team at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) has discovered exactly the necessary enzymes in unicellular green algae. Better still: living algae can be used as biocatalysts for certain substances, and they bring the co-substrate along, producing it in an environmentally friendly manner through photosynthesis.

“The exciting thing is that living algae can also carry out the reactions needed in the industry,” points out PhD student Stefanie Böhmer, lead author of the study. “Since algae produce NADPH using photosynthesis, i.e. with sunlight, the co-substrate of the OYEs is supplied in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way.”