Gas-phase degradation of VOCs using supported bacteria biofilms.

Herein we report the use of Pseudomonas putida F1 biofilms grown on carbonized cellulosic fibers to achieve biodegradation of airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the absence of any bulk aqueous-phase media. It is believed that direct exposure of gaseous VOC substrates to biomass may eliminate aqueous-phase mass transfer resistance and facilitate VOC capture and degradation. When tested with toluene vapor as a model VOC, the supported biofilm could grow optimally at 300 p.p.m. toluene and 80% relative humidity, with a specific growth rate of 0.425 day-1 . During long-term VOC biodegradation tests in a tubular packed bed reactor, biofilms achieved a toluene degradation rate of 2.5 mg gDCW -1 h-1 during the initial growth phase. Interestingly, the P. putida F1 film kept biodegrading activity even at the stationary nongrowth phase. The supported biofilms with a biomass loading of 20% (wt) could degrade toluene at a rate of 1.9 mg gDCW -1 h-1 during the stationary phase, releasing CO2 at a rate of 6.4 mg gDCW -1 h-1 at the same time (indicating 100% conversion of substrate carbon to CO2 ). All of these observations promised a new type of "dry" biofilm reactors for efficient degradation of toxic VOCs without involving a large amount of water.

Cascade enzymatic reactions for efficient carbon sequestration.

Thermochemical processes developed for carbon capture and storage (CCS) offer high carbon capture capacities, but are generally hampered by low energy efficiency. Reversible cascade enzyme reactions are examined in this work for energy-efficient carbon sequestration. By integrating the reactions of two key enzymes of RTCA cycle, isocitrate dehydrogenase and aconitase, we demonstrate that intensified carbon capture can be realized through such cascade enzymatic reactions. Experiments show that enhanced thermodynamic driving force for carbon conversion can be attained via pH control under ambient conditions, and that the cascade reactions have the potential to capture 0.5 mol carbon at pH 6 for each mole of substrate applied. Overall it manifests that the carbon capture capacity of biocatalytic reactions, in addition to be energy efficient, can also be ultimately intensified to approach those realized with chemical absorbents such as MEA.

Biocatalytic carbon capture via reversible reaction cycle catalyzed by isocitrate dehydrogenase.

The practice of carbon capture and storage (CCS) requires efficient capture and separation of carbon dioxide from its gaseous mixtures such as flue gas, followed by releasing it as a pure gas which can be subsequently compressed and injected into underground storage sites. This has been mostly achieved via reversible thermochemical reactions which are generally energy-intensive. The current work examines a biocatalytic approach for carbon capture using an NADP(H)-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH) which catalyzes reversibly carboxylation and decarboxylation reactions. Different from chemical carbon capture processes that rely on thermal energy to realize purification of carbon dioxide, the biocatalytic strategy utilizes pH to leverage the reaction equilibrium, thereby realizing energy-efficient carbon capture under ambient conditions. Results showed that over 25 mol of carbon dioxide could be captured and purified from its gas mixture for each gram of ICDH applied for each carboxylation/decarboxylation reaction cycle by varying pH between 6 and 9. This work demonstrates the promising potentials of pH-sensitive biocatalysis as a green-chemistry route for carbon capture.

Direct acid methylation for extraction of fatty acid content from microalgae cells.

Direct acid methylation was examined as a means for both analysis of fatty acid content in microalgal cells and biodiesel production without pretreatment. Microalgal cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Dunaliella tertiolecta were prepared and examined. It appeared that direct acid methylation extracted higher fatty acid content than the solvent-based Soxhlet extraction process. It also revealed that the latter was prone to extract a significant amount of nonlipid hydrophobic impurities, including hydrophobic proteins and phytol-type compounds, while direct methylation produces essentially pure ester product. This work demonstrates that direct acid methylation provides superior fatty acid extraction, promising an efficient process for either quantification of lipid content or production of biodiesel.