A TRAVEL TO THE FUTURE WITH BIOENGINEERING PROCESSES FROM CARBON DIOXIDE TO MATERIAL RECYCLING

Prof. Jacques Amouroux & Paul Siffert
Sorbonne University, Paris
UNESCO Chair / Materials – University of Strasbourg
E-MRS Governing Board & General Secretary

With the increase of the World Population (> 8 B) the demand for food, water, health, energy… has drastically grown all around the world. These human activities generate also enormous problems

·      all the CO₂ can no longer be absorbed by the oceans; therefore, recycling will be necessary transforming this quite stable gas in a chemical fuel;

·      replacing the world electricity current need by wind turbines will need between 4 and 6 Millions of 2 MW installations to be recycled.

Today only a low fraction of materials is recycled and often by wet chemistry processes which are not environmentally friendly and less welcome; therefore, innovative processes are necessary. Bacterias may offer a new alternative methodology already used for several metals from gold to rare earths. Examples will be presented to demonstrate their innovative potential.