Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MICRO4BIOGAS (Natural and Synthetic Microbial Communities for Sustainable Production of Optimised Biogas)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-12-01 bis 2024-05-31
In the current scenario of climatic emergency, global pollution, and biodiversity crisis, a new bioeconomy is needed to make economic growth sustainable and to avoid an ecological collapse. The change towards sustainability is a must; implementing best practices and tailored strategies will help to have a smooth transition in a win-win mode, with both environmental and economic benefits.
Currently, energy demand in urban areas is increasing rapidly due to the migration of people from rural to urban areas. According to the UUNN, 68% of the world population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050 (UUNN, 2018). Additionally, waste generation has also increased significantly over the past few years due to population expansion. If such waste is not disposed properly, it poses a significant risk to the environment and public health. Biogas, if well planned and managed, could be part of the solution of both challenges, turning the waste management issue into a revenue opportunity.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic matter is a robust technology for biogas synthesis from different types of waste (sewage sludge from water treatment, animal slurry, bio-waste, etc.). The main goal of AD is the production of methane, a renewable energy source that can be used to generate electricity, heat or as vehicle fuel. Biogas is a mixture of methane (CH4; 55–70% of the total volume), carbon dioxide (CO2; 30–40%) and traces of other gases. In 2018, EU was the world’s largest producer of biomethane, reaching 2,28 bcm. However, from a purely engineering view, the microbial process underlying methane production is considered to be a black box: it is subjected to a degree of variability and it is an industrial process with a lot of room for improvement in the systematic optimisation of (1) yield, (2) quality, (3) speed and (4) robustness of the process.
MICRO4BIOGAS aims to tackle these 4 aspects by integrating, for the first time, the use of microbial consortia that naturally inhabit anaerobic digesters with synthetic microbial consortia with improved capabilities, setting the basis for a user-friendly kit for bioaugmentation of biogas production (activities will be implemented at TRL3 with a TRL target of 5-6).
Improving the biogas production in Europe, this project meets the EU Bioeconomy Strategy and the European Green Deal, helping to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG7: Affordable and clean energy; SDG13: Climate Action) and working towards the circularity, resource efficiency and sustainability of the European countries.
Currently, energy demand in urban areas is increasing rapidly due to the migration of people from rural to urban areas. According to the UUNN, 68% of the world population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050 (UUNN, 2018). Additionally, waste generation has also increased significantly over the past few years due to population expansion. If such waste is not disposed properly, it poses a significant risk to the environment and public health. Biogas, if well planned and managed, could be part of the solution of both challenges, turning the waste management issue into a revenue opportunity.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic matter is a robust technology for biogas synthesis from different types of waste (sewage sludge from water treatment, animal slurry, bio-waste, etc.). The main goal of AD is the production of methane, a renewable energy source that can be used to generate electricity, heat or as vehicle fuel. Biogas is a mixture of methane (CH4; 55–70% of the total volume), carbon dioxide (CO2; 30–40%) and traces of other gases. In 2018, EU was the world’s largest producer of biomethane, reaching 2,28 bcm. However, from a purely engineering view, the microbial process underlying methane production is considered to be a black box: it is subjected to a degree of variability and it is an industrial process with a lot of room for improvement in the systematic optimisation of (1) yield, (2) quality, (3) speed and (4) robustness of the process.
MICRO4BIOGAS aims to tackle these 4 aspects by integrating, for the first time, the use of microbial consortia that naturally inhabit anaerobic digesters with synthetic microbial consortia with improved capabilities, setting the basis for a user-friendly kit for bioaugmentation of biogas production (activities will be implemented at TRL3 with a TRL target of 5-6).
Improving the biogas production in Europe, this project meets the EU Bioeconomy Strategy and the European Green Deal, helping to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG7: Affordable and clean energy; SDG13: Climate Action) and working towards the circularity, resource efficiency and sustainability of the European countries.
During this period 1 the first scheme of the roadmap is available online on the project website. An overview of the state of the construction of biogas plants has been performed, identifying known problems, legal requirements, and construction and maintenance costs. The isolation and characterization of microorganisms and microbial consortia that naturally inhabit biogas production tanks have been started. To do this, a huge variety of mesophilic and thermophilic industrial digesters have been sampled, along with extensive metadata that has been collected. Through the metataxonomic analyses, it has established the prevalence and abundance of the prokaryotic microorganisms involved in the biogas production process and detected any possible relationship between the microbiome and the operating conditions of the different plants. The main drivers that shape the structure of the community have been identified. The samples with the most interesting microbial profiles have been characterized through metagenomic analyses. The metagenomic data has been integrated with the metataxonomic results in order to identify genetic, genomic, or metagenomic traits related to the drivers that shape the microbiome of the different AD. Different approaches have been taken to obtain improved and robust microbial consortia for AD using adaptive evolution strategies. At lab scale, experiments to study phototrophic, electroactive, and syntrophic communities were conducted. Moreover, it has been carried out experiments, through a laboratory-scale bioreactor, with the aim of analyzing the efficiency of biogas production through the inoculation of different species of bacteria. The market analysis for the bioaugmentation strategy has been started as well as the Exploitation Plan and the LCA.
The objectives and expected results of the project are the following:
1_ Creation of a roadmap that gathers all information on the present and future of the biogas industry in Europe.
2_ Isolation and characterization of microorganisms and microbial consortia that naturally inhabit biogas production tanks differentiated on the basis of substrate and process characteristics, and including the leverage of publicly available sequencing databases.
3_ Identification of the main drivers that shape the structure of AD microbiomes through the exhaustive cross-comparison of operating conditions and taxonomic profiles by using machine learning and other statistical methods.
4_ Design of an improved and robust microbial consortia (synthetic consortia) for bioaugmentation using adaptive evolution strategies supported by kinetic modeling, flux balance analysis, and –omic analyses.
5_ Validation at laboratory scale of the selected microbial isolates/consortia.
6_Intensify the biogas production process, leading to a reduction of the required residence time with the same yield of biomethane.
7_Novel configuration of scalable anaerobic digesters, which facilitates bioaugmentation with selected strains due to the application of selective pressures, improving the robustness of the process.
8_Design and validation of a bioaugmentation strategy based on the selected microbial consortia to set the basis of new bioaugmentation kits to optimize biogas production.
9_Demonstrate the environmental and socio-economic implications of the developments envisaged in MICRO4BIOGAS, including gender issues and potential risks.
10_ Develop business models and strategies associated with the new proposed technologies, bioaugmentation strategies, and bio-based products.
11_ Stakeholder’s engagement for systemic innovation and for delivering efficient feedback into policymaking in research, innovation, and technology.
1_ Creation of a roadmap that gathers all information on the present and future of the biogas industry in Europe.
2_ Isolation and characterization of microorganisms and microbial consortia that naturally inhabit biogas production tanks differentiated on the basis of substrate and process characteristics, and including the leverage of publicly available sequencing databases.
3_ Identification of the main drivers that shape the structure of AD microbiomes through the exhaustive cross-comparison of operating conditions and taxonomic profiles by using machine learning and other statistical methods.
4_ Design of an improved and robust microbial consortia (synthetic consortia) for bioaugmentation using adaptive evolution strategies supported by kinetic modeling, flux balance analysis, and –omic analyses.
5_ Validation at laboratory scale of the selected microbial isolates/consortia.
6_Intensify the biogas production process, leading to a reduction of the required residence time with the same yield of biomethane.
7_Novel configuration of scalable anaerobic digesters, which facilitates bioaugmentation with selected strains due to the application of selective pressures, improving the robustness of the process.
8_Design and validation of a bioaugmentation strategy based on the selected microbial consortia to set the basis of new bioaugmentation kits to optimize biogas production.
9_Demonstrate the environmental and socio-economic implications of the developments envisaged in MICRO4BIOGAS, including gender issues and potential risks.
10_ Develop business models and strategies associated with the new proposed technologies, bioaugmentation strategies, and bio-based products.
11_ Stakeholder’s engagement for systemic innovation and for delivering efficient feedback into policymaking in research, innovation, and technology.