January 23rd 2026
Chinese scientists turn carbon dioxide to starch with 10-fold productivity boost.
Feat seen to pave the way for industrial starch production without relying on water- and land-intensive corn.
The key to reducing the cost of “carbon dioxide to starch” lies in this issue.
Recently, the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Tianjin Institute of Industry and Biotechnology) completed a new round of tests on carbon dioxide artificial synthesis of starch, and the starch synthesis output reached a new high, more than 10 times higher than in 2021.
In 2021, de novo synthesis of carbon dioxide to starch was published in Science. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the synthetic starch project has completed multiple rounds of iterative testing, improving efficiency year by year, decreasing cost year by year, and getting closer and closer to the goal of industrial application.
On October 13, 2025, the first International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Fixation and Biotransformation was held in Tianjin. At the meeting, the International Science Program for Carbon Dioxide Biotransformation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was officially launched, and the Tianjin Initiative on Carbon Dioxide Biotransformation for Global Sustainable Development was released. The international scientific program is led by Tianjin Institute of Industry and Technology, aiming to unite global scientific research forces to deeply analyze the mechanism of carbon dioxide fixation and transformation, and then design and build a more efficient artificial biological system, which is expected to make major breakthroughs in the theory and technology of carbon dioxide biotransformation, and open up a new path to address global challenges such as climate change and food security.
“This is a great encouragement for us, and I believe it will be of great help to our scientific research work in the future.” Cai Tao, a researcher at the Tianjin Institute of Engineering and Biotechnology, said.
From basic research to applied research
On October 29, 2025, Cai Tao went to the hospital for a physical examination. As soon as he heard that his unit was the Tianjin Institute of Industry and Biological Sciences, the doctor in charge of the physical examination immediately came to his senses and asked him: “How is your starch doing?” When will everyone be able to eat it? ”
“I feel that the people are really concerned about our scientific research projects, and the whole society has high expectations for us, and we must shoulder this responsibility.” Cai Tao said.
From obscurity to widespread known, the synthetic starch project has gone through 10 years. The turning point came in 2021, when Tianjin Institute of Industry and Engineering realized the de novo synthesis of starch from carbon dioxide driven by electricity/hydrogen energy for the first time in the world through de novo design and precise regulation of complex metabolic pathways.
After the release of the results, it suddenly detonated the academic circle and public opinion, and “carbon dioxide synthetic starch” quickly became a hot topic.
Experts at home and abroad said that the achievement is “a typical ‘from 0 to 1’ original breakthrough”; It is a major breakthrough in expanding and improving the ability of artificial photosynthesis, which is of great significance. It will not only have a revolutionary impact on future agricultural production, especially food production, but also be a milestone for the development of the global biomanufacturing industry.
For some time after the paper was published, the team members’ mobile phones kept ringing. In addition to media reports and congratulations from peers, research teams, biotechnology companies, and consulting companies also came to seek cooperation. Subsequently, there are people’s expectations and doubts about the industrialization of this achievement.
“Can this technology be implemented and tested for industrialization”, “How long will it take to achieve the leap from ‘from 1 to 10′”, “Where is the ‘stuck neck’ technology of engineering testing”, “Starch is so cheap, your artificially synthesized starch is so expensive, why spend time and effort to do it”…… Cai Tao and his team faced all kinds of torture and pressure.
“My heart was always hanging and anxious during that time. Industrial testing brings greater challenges, and it is not easy to establish a professional research team. Cai Tao said.
In August 2022, Tianjin Institute of Industry and Engineering established the Synthetic Starch Research Center (hereinafter referred to as the Starch Center) under the management framework of the overall research department to accelerate industrial application.
“Industrialization is our original ideal and ultimate goal. The initial climb was so difficult, but halfway up the way but didn’t leave, how could you be willing? Ma Yanhe, founding director of Tianjin Institute of Engineering and Students, said.
At present, the Starch Center has formed a core team of more than 30 people, uniting the superior R&D forces inside and outside the institute to focus on solving the core basic scientific problems restricting the cost of artificial starch.
Improve synthesis efficiency and reduce production costs
Efficiency and cost are the decisive factors for realizing the industrialization demonstration of synthetic starch, whether it is short-term, medium-term or long-term goals, the essence is to improve synthesis efficiency and gradually reduce costs.
If the cost of synthetic starch can be reduced to the level of agricultural planting, it will greatly save cultivated land and freshwater resources, reduce the negative impact of pesticides and fertilizers on the environment, and improve the level of human food security. At the same time, the raw material for synthetic starch is carbon dioxide in industrial waste gas, which is conducive to cracking our country’s resource and environmental constraints and achieving the “double carbon” goal.
At the end of 2022, the carbon dioxide synthetic starch engineering test platform was completed and started testing.
The key to determining the efficiency and cost of artificial starch synthesis lies in enzymes, which are inseparable from every step of the synthesis reaction. The process of artificial synthesis of starch requires the participation of more than 10 kinds of enzymes, including an artificial enzyme – formaldehyde polymerase, which accounts for half of the amount in the reaction system, which is an out-and-out “handle”.
“Formaldehyde polymerase is extremely important and extremely stubborn, and we try every means to transform it. At present, the activity of this enzyme has been greatly improved on the basis of 2021. “This means that its dosage in the entire reaction system will be significantly reduced, and the cost of enzymes will be further reduced.” ”
In addition, when testing in a fermenter, it is important to be able to “resist beating and stress” due to changes in the environment in which enzymes act. If the stability of the enzyme is insufficient, it can be easily inactivated.
“To enhance the stability of enzymes, we designed thousands of enzyme mutants and verified them one by one. According to the initial verification results, we reviewed, designed, tested, and verified again, selected the best among the best, selected the best among the best, and selected the enzyme with the best performance for scale-up testing. Cai Tao said.
In addition to improving enzyme activity and enhancing enzyme stability, another way to reduce costs is to fix enzymes. In short, it is to turn “disposable” enzymes into enzymes that can be “reused”. 4 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, week…… Every test and modification carried out by researchers in the laboratory is constantly extending the life of the enzyme on the pilot line.
The way of scientific research is changing, but the organizational model remains unchanged
Unlike many scientific research organization models that rely on the responsibility system of the research team leader, the carbon dioxide synthesis starch project was carried out in an organized mode from the beginning, adopting the three-dimensional scientific research organization model of “overall research department, research group, and platform laboratory”.
Under the three-dimensional scientific research organization model, the starch center organizes and concentrates advantageous forces to coordinate and allocate resources, personnel and equipment, breaks the fragmentation model of scientific research that the research group is independent and dispersed, cannot effectively organize major projects, and cannot effectively combine research and development with industrial application, and accelerate the research and development of projects.
Cai Tao introduced: “We will disassemble and refine the specific scientific research tasks, and then cooperate with the superior scientific research teams inside and outside the institute, and finally carry out system integration in the starch center to complete the project implementation.” In this way, the final result is not a simple ‘platter’, but a complete ‘dish’. ”
Since the start of the artificial starch work, the scientific research organization model has been consistent. In recent years, artificial intelligence has been widely used in knowledge acquisition, data analysis, achievement transformation, etc., improving scientific research efficiency and changing traditional scientific research methods.
In terms of enzyme modification and design, it was originally necessary to study the structure and catalytic mechanism of enzymes based on databases or published literature, design point-directed mutations to modify proteins, and then verify their activity through experiments. This process is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also often unsatisfactory due to the limitations of cognitive boundaries. But now, researchers use artificial intelligence large models to predict mutation combinations, accelerating the trial and error process, making experimental goals clearer and more efficient.
Although artificial intelligence has saved a lot of manpower and material resources, as the head of the starch center, Cai Tao is still not relaxed. “We’ve been moving under pressure for so many years. It is difficult to go from 0 to 1′, it is also difficult to reduce costs, and it is even more difficult to achieve industrial application in the end. Cai Tao said, “Despite this, we still have to rise to the challenge.” There is hope only if you do it, and there is nothing if you don’t do it. ”
Cai Tao said: “The artificial starch scientific research team has always firmly believed that although the dream is far away, it can be achieved if it is chased; Although the wish is difficult, it can be fulfilled if you hold on. ”
Source: https://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2026/1/559185.shtm