Modified Carbonic Anhydrase Enzymes and Their Use in Carbon Dioxide Sequestration and Elimination

A process of removing an amount of carbon dioxide, said process comprising:

• placing the carbon dioxide into solution by passing the gaseous stream through a gas diffusion membrane to produce a carbon dioxide solution;
• accelerating a conversion of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate by passing the carbon dioxide solution over a matrix that contains MCA;
• and adding a mineral ion to form a precipitate of a salt of bicarbonate or carbonate.

A process for removing carbon dioxide from a gaseous stream comprising:

• placing the carbon dioxide into solution by passing the gaseous stream through a gas diffusion membrane that contains a catalyst, the catalyst accelerating the conversion of the carbon dioxide to bicarbonate;
• and adding a mineral ion to form a precipitate of a salt of the bicarbonate, and wherein the catalyst is MCA.

A polynucleotide molecule comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide shown in FIG. 2, but with a different amino acid substituted in place of positions Thr199, Glu106, His64, Val121, Ile198, Asn62, Asn67, Tyr 7 Trp 209, Val143, and/or Val207.

A polypeptide shown in FIG. 2, but with a different amino acid substituted in place of position N62, A65, N67, T203 or T208, or combinations thereof.

A process of converting a carbon dioxide species in a sample into carbon dioxide, said method comprising contacting the carbon dioxide species with MCA or carbonic anhydrase under conditions permitting the carbon dioxide species to convert to carbon dioxide, wherein the carbon dioxide species is bicarbonate, carbonate or carbonic acid.

A method of purifying a water sample desalinated by a reverse osmosis process utilizing an osmotic agent comprising a carbonate or bicarbonate salt wherein the water sample comprises said osmotic agent, the method comprising subjecting the water sample to MCA or anhydrase such that said carbonate or bicarbonate in the water sample is converted to carbon dioxide and removed and/or recycled.