Cyanobacterial conversion of CO₂ to bio-based diols and downstream valorization: biological basis, upgrading strategies, and applications.
- 1College of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore Engineering Drive 4 Singapore 117585 Singapore [email protected].
Abstract
Cyanobacteria have attracted growing interest as photosynthetic cell factories for the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into renewable chemicals because they directly use solar energy and inorganic carbon under mild aqueous conditions. Recent advances in chassis development, genome engineering, carbon-partition control, and photobioreactor design have expanded the scope of cyanobacterial CO₂-to-chemical biomanufacturing. Among the reported diols, 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PDO), 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO), and 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) represent distinct development cases. In particular, 1,3-PDO provides an established benchmark for fermentative diol production from organic feedstocks, whereas 2,3-BDO offers additional opportunities for stereochemistry-sensitive upgrading but requires further validation in several downstream applications. These stages are often studied separately, and their interdependence remains a major challenge for process integration. This review summarizes the biological and engineering basis of cyanobacterial diol production, product recovery and purification, major upgrading strategies, and application prospects in pharmaceuticals, energy-storage materials, hydrogels, fuels, polymers, and related functional products. Key challenges in biological productivity, selective upgrading, catalyst stability, feed quality, and process sustainability are also discussed. The review distinguishes demonstrated cyanobacterial production from downstream transformations reported for other feedstocks and identifies the requirements for connecting them.
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BibTeX
@article{pan2026cyanobacterial,
title = {{Cyanobacterial conversion of CO₂ to bio-based diols and downstream valorization: biological basis, upgrading strategies, and applications.}},
author = {Changou Pan and Han Chen and Mingyue Zhang and Shaoxiong He and Zhiqun Lin},
journal = {Chemical science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6sc06370e},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898822},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Cyanobacterial conversion of CO₂ to bio-based diols and downstream valorization: biological basis, upgrading strategies, and applications.
AU - Changou Pan
AU - Han Chen
AU - Mingyue Zhang
AU - Shaoxiong He
AU - Zhiqun Lin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
JO - Chemical science
DO - 10.1039/d6sc06370e
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898822
AB - Cyanobacteria have attracted growing interest as photosynthetic cell factories for the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into renewable chemicals because they directly use solar energy and inorganic carbon under mild aqueous conditions. Recent advances in chassis development, genome engineering, carbon-partition control, and photobioreactor design have expanded the scope of cyanobacterial CO₂-to-chemical biomanufacturing. Among the reported diols, 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PDO), 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO), and 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) represent distinct development cases. In particular, 1,3-PDO provides an established benchmark for fermentative diol production from organic feedstocks, whereas 2,3-BDO offers additional opportunities for stereochemistry-sensitive upgrading but requires further validation in several downstream applications. These stages are often studied separately, and their interdependence remains a major challenge for process integration. This review summarizes the biological and engineering basis of cyanobacterial diol production, product recovery and purification, major upgrading strategies, and application prospects in pharmaceuticals, energy-storage materials, hydrogels, fuels, polymers, and related functional products. Key challenges in biological productivity, selective upgrading, catalyst stability, feed quality, and process sustainability are also discussed. The review distinguishes demonstrated cyanobacterial production from downstream transformations reported for other feedstocks and identifies the requirements for connecting them.
SN - 2041-6520
SN - 2041-6539
ER -