A flexible microbial co-culture platform for simultaneous utilization of methane and carbon dioxide from gas feedstocks
A new co-cultivation technology is presented that converts greenhouse gasses, CH4 and CO2, into microbial biomass. The methanotrophic bacterium, Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum 20z, was coupled to a cyanobacterium, Synechococcus PCC 7002 via oxygenic photosynthesis. The system exhibited robust growth on diverse gas mixtures ranging from biogas to those representative of a natural gas feedstock. A continuous processes was developed on a synthetic natural gas feed that achieved steady-state by imposing coupled light and O2 limitations on the cyanobacterium and methanotroph, respectively. Continuous co-cultivation resulted in an O2 depleted reactor and does not require CH4/O2 mixtures to be fed into the system, thereby enhancing process safety considerations over traditional methanotroph mono-culture platforms. This co-culture technology is scalable with respect to its ability to utilize different gas streams and its biological components constructed from model bacteria that can be metabolically customized to produce a range of biofuels and bioproducts.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1341100
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1341742; OSTI ID: 1347845
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-122746; S0960852417300056; PII: S0960852417300056
- Journal Information:
- Bioresource Technology, Journal Name: Bioresource Technology Vol. 228 Journal Issue: C; ISSN 0960-8524
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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