CAREER: Expanding and controlling the product spectrum from anaerobic bioprocessing of wastes

职业：扩大和控制废物厌氧生物处理的产品范围

• 批准号: 2143446
• 负责人: Matthew Scarborough
• 金额: $ 56.14万
• 依托单位: University of Vermont & State Agricultural College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-05-01 至 2027-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2143446&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Expanding; controlling; product; spectrum

Microbiome-based processes are increasingly being utilized by environmental engineers to recover valuable resources from organic wastes. For example, anerobic digestion is used to generate biogas for heating, electricity generation, and to produce methane. Anaerobic digestion with chain elongation has emerged as a promising environmental biotechnology platform for converting organic wastes to high-value chemicals that can serve as chemical building blocks for the manufacturing of polymers and industrially relevant products. During chain elongation, microorganisms combine volatile fatty acids generated from the anaerobic digestion of organic substrates with electron donors such as ethanol or acetate to produce longer chain chemicals. However, the ability to tune and control the product spectrum of chain-elongating microbiomes has remained elusive. The overarching goal of this CAREER project is to advance the fundamental understanding of these microbiomes with the ultimate goals of developing new and optimal feedstocks and reactors to tune and control their product distributions. The successful completion of this project will benefit society through the generation of new fundamental knowledge to advance the development of a circular bioeconomy using organic wastes as feedstocks. Further benefits to society will be achieved through student education and training including the mentoring of a graduate student and an undergraduate student at the University of Vermont.Organic wastes such as food and agricultural residues can be converted into high value chemicals such as medium-chain carboxylic acids (MCCAs) using anaerobic digestion with chain elongating microbiomes. However, there are critical knowledge gaps in the fundamental understanding of MCCA generation by chain elongating microbiomes. First, the potential of protein-rich feedstocks for MCCA production is not well understood. Second, the ability to control and tune reverse beta-oxidation pathways that drive the production of MCAAs by chain elongation has remained elusive. Third, tools for modeling MCCA production from complex organic feedstocks are only beginning to emerge. This CAREER proposal will address these critical knowledge gaps. The guiding hypothesis of the proposed research is that anaerobic microbiomes can be controlled and steered to generate MCCAs in a predictable way using amino acid and protein feedstocks. The specific objectives of the proposed research are to: (1) Evaluate amino acid and protein rich substrates and new feeding strategies to tailor and control MCCA production, (2) Design and evaluate new bioreactors for improved MCCA production and extraction, and (3) Develop computational tools to model chain elongation bioprocesses. The successful completion of this project has the potential for transformative impact through the generation of new fundamental knowledge to advance the development of more efficient and cost-effective bioprocesses to recover valuable chemicals from organic wastes while reducing their environmental impact. To implement the educational and training goals of this CAREER project, the Principal Investigator (PI) will work with the University of Vermont (UVM) Extension 4-H to teach and inspire high school students to explore the use of microbiomes to protect the environment and public health. In addition, the PI plans to develop and teach two new courses at UVM including a course-based undergraduate research experience that focuses on the circular bioeconomy (biorefining) and a graduate course to prepare environmental engineering students to use ‘omic’ technologies and computational tools to characterize and simulate microbiomes of environmental relevance.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

环境工程师越来越多地利用基于微生物组的过程来从有机废物中回收有价值的资源。例如，厌氧消化用于生成用于加热，发电和产生甲烷的沼气。随着链条伸长的厌氧消化已成为一个有希望的环境生物技术平台，用于将有机废物转化为高价值化学物质，这些化学物质可以用作制造聚合物和工业相关产品的化学构建块。在链伸长过程中，微生物结合了由有机底物与电子供体（例如乙醇或乙酸盐）产生的挥发性脂肪酸，以产生更长的链化学物质。但是，调整和控制链链微生物组的产品光谱的能力仍然难以捉摸。该职业项目的总体目标是通过开发新的和最佳的原料和反应堆来调整和控制其产品分布的最终目标，以促进对这些微生物组的基本理解。该项目的成功完成将通过产生新的基本知识来使社会受益，从而推进使用有机废物作为原料的循环生物经济的发展。通过学生的教育和培训，将对社会的进一步益处，包括佛蒙特大学的研究生和本科生的心理，有机废物（例如食物和农业残留物）可以使用与链链型微生物链的中等链羧酸（MCCAS）这样的高价值化学物质，例如中片羧酸（MCCAS）。但是，通过链延长微生物组，对MCCA产生的基本理解存在关键的知识差距。首先，尚不清楚富含蛋白质的原料对MCCA产生的潜力。其次，控制和调整反向β氧化途径的能力驱动通过链伸长产生MCAA的能力仍然难以捉摸。第三，用于建模复杂有机原料的MCCA生产的工具才刚刚开始出现。该职业建议将解决这些关键的知识差距。拟议研究的指导假设是，可以使用氨基酸和蛋白质原料以可预测的方式控制和蒸熟的厌氧微生物组。拟议研究的具体目标是：（1）评估富含氨基酸和蛋白质富基材以及新的喂养策略，以量身定制和控制MCCA的生产，（2）设计和评估新的生物反应器，以改善MCCA的生产和提取，以及（3）开发计算工具以模拟链链延长生物普罗普斯。该项目的成功完成，通过产生新的基本知识，可以推进更有效，更具成本效益的生物过程，从而从有机废物中回收有价值的化学物质，同时减少其环境影响。为了实施该职业项目的教育和培训目标，首席研究员（PI）将与佛蒙特大学（UVM）扩展4-H合作，教授和激发高中生探索微生物的使用来保护环境和公共卫生。此外，PI计划在UVM开发和教授两门新课程，包括基于课程的本科研究经验，重点是循环生物经济经济（生物修复）和一门研究生课程，以准备环境工程专业的学生，​​以使用“ OMIC”技术和计算工具来使用“ OMIC”技术和计算工具来表征和模拟通过环境奖励的批准。基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响评论标准。