Characterizing Novel Acetogens for Production of C2–C6 Alcohols from Syngas

Thunuguntla, Rahul; Atiyeh, Hasan K.; Huhnke, Raymond L.; Tanner, Ralph S.

doi:10.3390/pr12010142

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 44 publications

(110 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The hydrogen released during ethanol oxidation can be used by synthophic partners such as hydrogenotrophic methanogens that use part of the CO 2 as electron acceptor to produce methane while keeping H 2 concentrations low ( Roghair et al, 2018b ). Alternatively, CO 2 could also be used for homoacetogenesis, in which H 2 is utilized to produce acetate and other biochemicals ( Müller, 2019 ); some acetogens have shown the capability to produce butanol and hexanol ( Thunuguntla et al, 2024 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CO2 supply is a powerful tool to control homoacetogenesis, chain elongation and solventogenesis in ethanol and carboxylate fed reactor microbiomes

de Leeuw,

van Willigen,

Vrauwdeunt

et al. 2024

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Anaerobic fermentation technology enables the production of medium chain carboxylates and alcohols through microbial chain elongation. This involves steering reactor microbiomes to yield desired products, with CO2 supply playing a crucial role in controlling ethanol-based chain elongation and facilitating various bioprocesses simultaneously. In the absence of CO2 supply (Phase I), chain elongation predominantly led to n-caproate with a high selectivity of 96 Cmol%, albeit leaving approximately 80% of ethanol unconverted. During this phase, C. kluyveri and Proteiniphilum-related species dominated the reactors. In Phase II, with low CO2 input (2.0 NmL L−1 min−1), formation of n-butyrate, butanol, and hexanol was stimulated. Increasing CO2 doses in Phase III (6 NmL L−1 min−1) led to CO2 utilization via homoacetogenesis, coinciding with the enrichment of Clostridium luticellarii, a bacterium that can use CO2 as an electron acceptor. Lowering CO2 dose to 0.5 NmL L−1 min−1 led to a shift in microbiome composition, diminishing the dominance of C. luticellarii while increasing C. kluyveri abundance. Additionally, other Clostridia, Proteiniphilum, and Lactobacillus sakei-related species became prevalent. This decrease in CO2 load from 6 to 0.5 NmL L−1 min−1 minimized excessive ethanol oxidation from 30%–50% to 0%–3%, restoring a microbiome favoring net n-butyrate consumption and n-caproate production. The decreased ethanol oxidation coincided with the resurgence of hydrogen formation at partial pressures above 1%. High concentrations of butyrate, caproate, and ethanol in the reactor, along with low acetate concentration, promoted the formation of butanol and hexanol. It is evident that CO2 supply is indispensable for controlling chain elongation in an open culture and it can be harnessed to stimulate higher alcohol formation or induce CO2 utilization as an electron acceptor.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%