Shaping an Open Microbiome for Butanol Production through Process Control
The growing awareness of limited resource availability has driven production systems towards greater efficiencies, and motivated the transition of wastewater treatment plants to water resource recovery facilities. Open microbiome fermentation offers a robust platform for resource recovery, due to it...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Fermentation |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5637/8/7/333 |
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| author | Tiago Pinto Antonio Grimalt-Alemany Xavier Flores-Alsina Hariklia N. Gavala Krist V. Gernaey Helena Junicke |
| author_facet | Tiago Pinto Antonio Grimalt-Alemany Xavier Flores-Alsina Hariklia N. Gavala Krist V. Gernaey Helena Junicke |
| author_sort | Tiago Pinto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The growing awareness of limited resource availability has driven production systems towards greater efficiencies, and motivated the transition of wastewater treatment plants to water resource recovery facilities. Open microbiome fermentation offers a robust platform for resource recovery, due to its higher metabolic versatility, which is capable of dealing with even dilute residual liquid streams. Organic matter, e.g., fatty acids, lost in these streams can potentially be recovered into higher value chemicals such as alcohols. This study aims to shape an open microbiome towards butanol production from butyrate and hydrogen through pH control and continuous hydrogen supply. Two sets of experiments were conducted in Scott bottles (1 L) and a lab-fermenter (3 L). The open microbiome produced up to 4.4 mM butanol in 1 L bottles. More promising conversions were obtained when up-scaling to a lab-fermenter with pH control and an increased hydrogen partial pressure of 2 bar; results included a butanol concentration of 10.9 mM and an average volumetric productivity of 0.68 mmol L<sup>−1</sup> d<sup>−1</sup> after 16 days. This corresponds to 2.98- and 4.65-fold increases, respectively, over previously reported values. Thermodynamic calculations revealed that product formation from butyrate was unfeasible, but energetically favorable from bicarbonate present in the inoculum. For the first time, this study provides insights regarding the community structure of an open microbiome producing butanol from butyrate and hydrogen. DNA sequencing combined with 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis showed high correlation between <i>Mesotoga</i> spp. and butanol formation. Microbial diversity can also explain the formation of by-products from non-butyrate carbon sources. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:26:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c6b8cabb441b4cdabab97eabd68c7a0b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2311-5637 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:26:45Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fermentation |
| spelling | doaj.art-c6b8cabb441b4cdabab97eabd68c7a0b2023-12-03T15:01:52ZengMDPI AGFermentation2311-56372022-07-018733310.3390/fermentation8070333Shaping an Open Microbiome for Butanol Production through Process ControlTiago Pinto0Antonio Grimalt-Alemany1Xavier Flores-Alsina2Hariklia N. Gavala3Krist V. Gernaey4Helena Junicke5Process and Systems Engineering Center (PROSYS), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Søltofts Plads, Building 227, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, DenmarkCenter for Energy Resources Engineering (CERE), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Søltofts Plads, Building 227, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, DenmarkProcess and Systems Engineering Center (PROSYS), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Søltofts Plads, Building 227, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, DenmarkCenter for Energy Resources Engineering (CERE), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Søltofts Plads, Building 227, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, DenmarkProcess and Systems Engineering Center (PROSYS), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Søltofts Plads, Building 227, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, DenmarkProcess and Systems Engineering Center (PROSYS), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Søltofts Plads, Building 227, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, DenmarkThe growing awareness of limited resource availability has driven production systems towards greater efficiencies, and motivated the transition of wastewater treatment plants to water resource recovery facilities. Open microbiome fermentation offers a robust platform for resource recovery, due to its higher metabolic versatility, which is capable of dealing with even dilute residual liquid streams. Organic matter, e.g., fatty acids, lost in these streams can potentially be recovered into higher value chemicals such as alcohols. This study aims to shape an open microbiome towards butanol production from butyrate and hydrogen through pH control and continuous hydrogen supply. Two sets of experiments were conducted in Scott bottles (1 L) and a lab-fermenter (3 L). The open microbiome produced up to 4.4 mM butanol in 1 L bottles. More promising conversions were obtained when up-scaling to a lab-fermenter with pH control and an increased hydrogen partial pressure of 2 bar; results included a butanol concentration of 10.9 mM and an average volumetric productivity of 0.68 mmol L<sup>−1</sup> d<sup>−1</sup> after 16 days. This corresponds to 2.98- and 4.65-fold increases, respectively, over previously reported values. Thermodynamic calculations revealed that product formation from butyrate was unfeasible, but energetically favorable from bicarbonate present in the inoculum. For the first time, this study provides insights regarding the community structure of an open microbiome producing butanol from butyrate and hydrogen. DNA sequencing combined with 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis showed high correlation between <i>Mesotoga</i> spp. and butanol formation. Microbial diversity can also explain the formation of by-products from non-butyrate carbon sources.https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5637/8/7/333butyrate reductionresource recoverywastewater remediationthermodynamic analysisDNA sequencing |
| spellingShingle | Tiago Pinto Antonio Grimalt-Alemany Xavier Flores-Alsina Hariklia N. Gavala Krist V. Gernaey Helena Junicke Shaping an Open Microbiome for Butanol Production through Process Control Fermentation butyrate reduction resource recovery wastewater remediation thermodynamic analysis DNA sequencing |
| title | Shaping an Open Microbiome for Butanol Production through Process Control |
| title_full | Shaping an Open Microbiome for Butanol Production through Process Control |
| title_fullStr | Shaping an Open Microbiome for Butanol Production through Process Control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Shaping an Open Microbiome for Butanol Production through Process Control |
| title_short | Shaping an Open Microbiome for Butanol Production through Process Control |
| title_sort | shaping an open microbiome for butanol production through process control |
| topic | butyrate reduction resource recovery wastewater remediation thermodynamic analysis DNA sequencing |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5637/8/7/333 |
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