Enzyme-based processes have shown promise as a sustainable alternative to amine-based processes for carbon dioxide capture. In this work, we have engineered carbonic anhydrase nanoparticles that retain 98% of hydratase activity in comparison to their free counterparts. Carbonic anhydrase was fused with a self-assembling peptide that facilitates the noncovalent assembly of the particle and together were recombinantly expressed from a single gene construct in Escherichia coli. The purified enzymes, when subjected to a reduced pH, form 50-200 nm nanoparticles. The CO2 capture capability of enzyme nanoparticles was demonstrated at ambient (22 ± 2 °C) and higher (50 °C) temperatures, under which the nanoparticles maintain their assembled state. The carrier-free enzymatic nanoparticles demonstrated here offer a new approach to stabilize and reuse enzymes in a simple and cost-effective manner.
Keywords: carbon dioxide capture; carrier-free immobilization; enzyme-peptide fusion; protein nanoparticles; recombinant enzyme; self-assembly.