Engineered Consortium-Based Biogas Conversion Platforms
- Microvi Biotech Inc., Hayward, CA (United States)
The biogas industry continues to expand, driven by technological advances in anaerobic digestion, environmentally conscious practices, and the increasing cost of water and electricity around the world. Before biogas can be used interchangeably with natural gas, however, carbon dioxide and other impurities are often purged in an upgrading process. This process is costly, unsuitable for small-scale or highly distributed digesters, and can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The ability to use biogas beyond electricity generation is limited by the high cost, large footprint and inefficiency of chemical conversion technologies. Biological approaches have the potential to convert both the methane and carbon dioxide of biogas directly into liquid products at mild temperatures. Nonetheless, achieving efficient biological biogas conversion will require significant technical advances over the conventional microorganisms, equipment and processes used in industrial biotechnology today. This project developed a new technology platform specifically designed for high throughput methane and carbon dioxide co-conversion using stable microbial consortia. First, the platform enables high control over consortia constituents to enhance metabolite transfer efficiency in the multi-organism pathway. Second, the platform utilizes two strategies to enhance the delivery of key substrates and gases. Finally, stabilizing ecological balances via synthetic biocatalysts were a key thrust of the project. Next-generation consortium-based bioconversion technologies have the potential to mitigate many of the challenges of conventional biological gas conversion technologies, while enabling biogas conversion technologies to become as small and convenient as conventional anaerobic digesters are today.
- Research Organization:
- Microvi Biotech, Inc., Hayward, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0015839
- OSTI ID:
- 1484859
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DE-SC0015839
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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