Biomimetic sequestration of carbon dioxide using an enzyme extracted from oyster shell

Abstract

Carbon dioxide sequestration activity was compared and evaluated using bovine carbonic anhydrase (BCA), and a water soluble protein extract derived from hemocytes from diseased shell (HDS). Para-nitrophenyl acetate (p-NPA) was used to measure the reaction rate. The k(cat)/K-m values obtained from the Lineweaver-Burk and Michaelis-Menten equations were 230.7 M(-1)s(-1) for BCA and 194.1 M(-1)s(-1) for HDS. Without a biocatalyst, CaCO3 production took 15 seconds on average, while it took 5 seconds on average when BCA or HDS were present, indicating an approximately 3-fold enhancement of CaCO3 production rate by the biocatalysts. The biocatalytic hydration of CO2 and its precipitation as CaCO3 in the presence of biocatalysts were investigated.