SCP production on C₁ compounds

Abstract

Given the partial oxidation products of methane as the chemical feedstock for single‐cell protein (SCP) production, their conversion efficiency is optimized by optimal selection of the pertinent microorganisms that can utilize the feedstocks. The coenzymes of the three oxidation steps from methanol to formaldehyde to formate and carbon dioxide as well as the pathway involved in carbon fixation determine the cell‐mass yield. Microorganisms which follows the ribulose monophosphate cycle and which have coenzymes which are linked to the maximum production of ATP (for example, NAD linked dehydrogenases), should be searched for economical production of SCP. Batch growth rate and yield data are limited in utilization and interpretation, and care should be exercised in their use. The subject of this case study, Methylomonas EP‐1, gives an optimal cell mass yield of 65% and a stable chemostat operation at space velocities as high as 0.58 hr−1.

Optimal Operating Points for SCP Production in the U-Loop Reactor

“…The microorganism Methylococcus capsulatus can grow on cheap carbon sources such as methane and methanol (Papoutsakis et al, 1978;Hanson and Hanson, 1996;Bothe et al, 2002). The protein content of M. capsulatus is approximately 70% on a dry mass basis.…”

An experimental investigation of stability and multiplicity of steady states in a biological reactor

“…Methanol has been actively considered as a feedstock for SCP processes (Cooney, 1975;Goldberg et al, 1976;Papoutsakis et al, 1978a). A particular, though not unique, disadvantage to continuous ure culture cultivation of methanol utilizing organisms is t l e possibility of two nontrivial steady states and the reactor stability problems that are thus generated.…”