ETH Zurich researchers have engineered bacteria in the lab to efficiently use methanol

In Switzerland, ETH Zurich said that a group of its researchers have engineered bacteria in the laboratory to efficiently use methanol. The metabolism of these bacteria can now be tapped into to produce valuable products currently made by the chemical industry from fossil fuels, ETH Zurich said.

Researchers explained that methanol can be synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using renewable energy. When this green methanol is metabolized by specialized bacteria, a variety of chemical substances can be biotechnologically produced, ETH Zurich said.

The application of these bacteria could allow the chemical industry to convert the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into valuable climate-​neutral chemicals, and substantially reduce its ecological footprint, it added.

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