A Single-Culture Bioprocess of Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus to Upgrade Digester Biogas by CO2-to-CH4 Conversion with H2

We optimized and tested a postbioprocessing step with a single-culture archaeon to upgrade biogas (i.e., increase methane content) from anaerobic digesters via conversion of CO2 into CH4 by feeding H2 gas. We optimized a culture of the thermophilic methanogen Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus u...

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Main Authors: Matthew R. Martin, Jeffrey J. Fornero, Rebecca Stark, Laurens Mets, Largus T. Angenent
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2013-01-01
Series:Archaea
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/157529
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spelling doaj-9f19db1950a14e859a569b68cc4bd6f32021-07-02T02:54:34ZengHindawi LimitedArchaea1472-36461472-36542013-01-01201310.1155/2013/157529157529A Single-Culture Bioprocess of Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus to Upgrade Digester Biogas by CO2-to-CH4 Conversion with H2Matthew R. Martin0Jeffrey J. Fornero1Rebecca Stark2Laurens Mets3Largus T. Angenent4Electrochaea, LLC, 1005 N. Warson Road, Suite 201, St. Louis, MO 63132, USAElectrochaea, LLC, 1005 N. Warson Road, Suite 201, St. Louis, MO 63132, USAElectrochaea, LLC, 1005 N. Warson Road, Suite 201, St. Louis, MO 63132, USAThe University of Chicago, 920 E. 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USACornell University, 214 Riley-Robb Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USAWe optimized and tested a postbioprocessing step with a single-culture archaeon to upgrade biogas (i.e., increase methane content) from anaerobic digesters via conversion of CO2 into CH4 by feeding H2 gas. We optimized a culture of the thermophilic methanogen Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus using: (1) a synthetic H2/CO2 mixture; (2) the same mixture with pressurization; (3) a synthetic biogas with different CH4 contents and H2; and (4) an industrial, untreated biogas and H2. A laboratory culture with a robust growth (dry weight of 6.4–7.4 g/L; OD600 of 13.6–15.4), a volumetric methane production rate of 21 L/L culture-day, and a H2 conversion efficiency of 89% was moved to an industrial anaerobic digester facility, where it was restarted and fed untreated biogas with a methane content of ~70% at a rate such that CO2 was in excess of the stoichiometric requirements in relation to H2. Over an 8-day operating period, the dry weight of the culture initially decreased slightly before stabilizing at an elevated level of ~8 g/L to achieve a volumetric methane production rate of 21 L/L culture-day and a H2 conversion efficiency of 62%. While some microbial contamination of the culture was observed via microscopy, it did not affect the methane production rate of the culture.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/157529
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Matthew R. Martin
Jeffrey J. Fornero
Rebecca Stark
Laurens Mets
Largus T. Angenent
spellingShingle Matthew R. Martin
Jeffrey J. Fornero
Rebecca Stark
Laurens Mets
Largus T. Angenent
A Single-Culture Bioprocess of Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus to Upgrade Digester Biogas by CO2-to-CH4 Conversion with H2
Archaea
author_facet Matthew R. Martin
Jeffrey J. Fornero
Rebecca Stark
Laurens Mets
Largus T. Angenent
author_sort Matthew R. Martin
title A Single-Culture Bioprocess of Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus to Upgrade Digester Biogas by CO2-to-CH4 Conversion with H2
title_short A Single-Culture Bioprocess of Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus to Upgrade Digester Biogas by CO2-to-CH4 Conversion with H2
title_full A Single-Culture Bioprocess of Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus to Upgrade Digester Biogas by CO2-to-CH4 Conversion with H2
title_fullStr A Single-Culture Bioprocess of Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus to Upgrade Digester Biogas by CO2-to-CH4 Conversion with H2
title_full_unstemmed A Single-Culture Bioprocess of Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus to Upgrade Digester Biogas by CO2-to-CH4 Conversion with H2
title_sort single-culture bioprocess of methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus to upgrade digester biogas by co2-to-ch4 conversion with h2
publisher Hindawi Limited
series Archaea
issn 1472-3646
1472-3654
publishDate 2013-01-01
description We optimized and tested a postbioprocessing step with a single-culture archaeon to upgrade biogas (i.e., increase methane content) from anaerobic digesters via conversion of CO2 into CH4 by feeding H2 gas. We optimized a culture of the thermophilic methanogen Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus using: (1) a synthetic H2/CO2 mixture; (2) the same mixture with pressurization; (3) a synthetic biogas with different CH4 contents and H2; and (4) an industrial, untreated biogas and H2. A laboratory culture with a robust growth (dry weight of 6.4–7.4 g/L; OD600 of 13.6–15.4), a volumetric methane production rate of 21 L/L culture-day, and a H2 conversion efficiency of 89% was moved to an industrial anaerobic digester facility, where it was restarted and fed untreated biogas with a methane content of ~70% at a rate such that CO2 was in excess of the stoichiometric requirements in relation to H2. Over an 8-day operating period, the dry weight of the culture initially decreased slightly before stabilizing at an elevated level of ~8 g/L to achieve a volumetric methane production rate of 21 L/L culture-day and a H2 conversion efficiency of 62%. While some microbial contamination of the culture was observed via microscopy, it did not affect the methane production rate of the culture.
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/157529
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