Printable enzyme-embedded materials for methane to methanol conversion

Craig D. Blanchette, Jennifer M. Knipe, Joshuah K. Stolaroff, Joshua R. DeOtte, James S. Oakdale, Amitesh Maiti, Jeremy M. Lenhardt, Sarah Sirajuddin, Amy C. Rosenzweig () and Sarah E. Baker ()
Additional contact information
Craig D. Blanchette: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Jennifer M. Knipe: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Joshuah K. Stolaroff: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Joshua R. DeOtte: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
James S. Oakdale: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Amitesh Maiti: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Jeremy M. Lenhardt: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Sarah Sirajuddin: Northwestern University
Amy C. Rosenzweig: Northwestern University
Sarah E. Baker: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract An industrial process for the selective activation of methane under mild conditions would be highly valuable for controlling emissions to the environment and for utilizing vast new sources of natural gas. The only selective catalysts for methane activation and conversion to methanol under mild conditions are methane monooxygenases (MMOs) found in methanotrophic bacteria; however, these enzymes are not amenable to standard enzyme immobilization approaches. Using particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO), we create a biocatalytic polymer material that converts methane to methanol. We demonstrate embedding the material within a silicone lattice to create mechanically robust, gas-permeable membranes, and direct printing of micron-scale structures with controlled geometry. Remarkably, the enzymes retain up to 100% activity in the polymer construct. The printed enzyme-embedded polymer motif is highly flexible for future development and should be useful in a wide range of applications, especially those involving gas–liquid reactions.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11900 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11900

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11900

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().