BioENErgy from biomass and bio-oil Fermentation using mIcrobial Communities to produce Chemicals and Enzymes

Project Information

BENEFICCE

Grant agreement ID: 892764

DOI

10.3030/892764

Project closed

EC signature date 17 April 2020

Start date 1 October 2020

End date 30 May 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 196 707,84

EU contribution

€ 196 707,84

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE DE PAU ET DES PAYS DE L'ADOUR
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BENEFICCE (BioENErgy from biomass and bio-oil Fermentation using mIcrobial Communities to produce Chemicals and Enzymes)

Reporting period: 2020-10-01 to 2022-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Our planet is facing many environmental issues, among which plastic and oil pollution, together with the global warming, are the most important. BENEFICCE project aims to develop a biotechnological process for the production of environmentally friendly bioplastics and biofuels.
The waste from local agricultural activities will serve as a raw material to produce bioplastics and biofuels using microorganisms and microbial communities taken from oil-contaminated environments. In this way, BENEFICCE project will be contributing to 2 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations: Sustainable Production and Combat Climate Change. Moreover, the resulting biorefinery process aims to be competitive by using low-cost raw material and having fewer process steps than other existent technologies.
Nowadays, our society is more and more conscious about the environmental problems, and they rely on the scientific work to develop new strategies in a way to a zero-pollution world.

The overall objectives of the project are:

-Produce a bioplastic from pyrolyzed agricultural waste, using microbial communities taken from oil contaminated environments

-Produce biofuels precursors from raw agricultural waste, using microbial communities taken from oil contaminated environments

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Sediments from hydrocarbon contaminated environments were sampled and microbial communities (MC) were isolated from the sediments using special strategies depending on the desired type of MC.
One MC was isolated for the production of bioplastics (polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)) that are symilar to polyetilene and polypropylene, and that are biodegradable and biocompatible. The MC were called MCPHA. The first isolation was done with acetate as substrate, and then acetate was replaced by different wastes such as the liquid product of lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis (bio-oil) and paper sludge from a recycling paper company. The MC were characterized, and species known by their capacity to produce PHAs, and degrade hydrocarbons were found within the most abundant in the MC isolated. The PHA produced was quantified by GC-FID reaching a production between 10 to 30% when the MC were cultivated with the residues as substrate, and within 30-50% for MC that were cultivated with acetate as substrate. The PHA produced by MCPHA was extracted and characterized and it was found that it is pure polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB).
A second MC was isolated using raw lignocellulosic biomass (corn straw) as substrate. This MC, called MCB, demonstrated to be able to degrade the lignocellulosic biomass without any pre-treatment, a 50% degradation was observed in 10 days culture. The substrate was changed by paper sludge form a recycling paper company and the MCB were able to grow in presence of this residue without any pre-treatment. The Fatty Acids (FAs) produced by the MCB grown with corn straw as substrate, and grown with paper sludge as substrate were analyzed and it was found that FAs of industrial interest in cosmetics, biofuel and medicine were produced, like miristate, stearate, linoleate, heptadecanoate, etc. The MCB was characterized and species with known lignocellulose degradation activity, hydrocarbons capacity and FAs production were found.
A circular economy approach was created for the production of valuable chemicals like PHAs and FAs, using local raw material such the agricultural and industrial waste and the MC sampled in local environments.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

There has been an increasing interest to study the biological production of bioplastics, since it has a great potential to replace petroleum-sourced plastic. To the best of our knowledge, microbial communities resistant to oil pollution taken from environmental samples were not yet studied for this purpose.
Fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass (such as corn straw) to produce bio-fuels and fatty acids is another subject of study with increasing interest in the scientific community. Anaerobic fermentation is usually done after a previous hydrolysis of the lignocellulosic biomass with biological (enzymatic) or chemical treatment. In BENEFICCE project the microbial communities are cultivated in aerobic conditions with raw corn straw and other local wastes as the only carbon source. The microbial community demonstrated to be able to grow in these conditions and to degrade the corn straw without the need to do any pre-treatment to the straw. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, microbial communities from hydrocarbon contaminated environment have not yet being studied for the production of biofuels under aerobic conditions using agricultural residues as carbon source for the microorganisms.
The expected results until the end of the project will bring the bases to build two biorefinery process: one that will produce bioplastics with similar properties to polyethylene and polypropylene. And the other will produce biofuel precursors. The raw materials will be local residues from agricultural activities and forest, and microbes taken from the environment, leading in an innovative and competitive technology

Schematic of the two approaches of BENEFICCE project