Integrated microbial biotechnologies for sustainable resource recovery from wastewater

用于废水可持续资源回收的综合微生物生物技术

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04585
• 负责人: Ziels, Ryan
• 金额: $ 2.26万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=749456
• 关键词: Integrated; microbial; biotechnologies; sustainable; resource

Not everyone likes to think about what happens after they flush. However, humankind is currently emitting far more nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and carbon (C) into the environment than our planet can process, and this could lead to the deterioration of natural ecosystems critical to human sustainability. Domestic wastewater is a significant contributor of these compounds, and wastewater is now the largest contributor of pollution to Canadian water sources. Traditional biological treatment processes used to convert N, P, and C in wastewater have high energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions. Microorganisms are the drivers of these biological treatment processes, yet little is known about their diversity and metabolic capacities, due to their general difficulty of isolation in the lab. This fundamental knowledge gap hinders the development of new biotechnologies that enable the recovery of nutrients, bioenergy, and clean water as renewable resources from wastewater. Recent advances in cultivation-independent genome sequencing technologies, such as metagenomics, can help to elucidate the metabolic capabilities of novel microbes within complex environmental systems. Yet, current biological wastewater treatment design approaches are lagging behind the genomics revolution, as such modelling platforms do not consider the metabolic capacity and diversity of microbial biomass. My research program will progress beyond traditional wastewater treatment design approaches by incorporating next-generation genomic sequencing data into process models that can accurately predict pollutant transformation under a variety of emerging bioreactor configurations. The long-term goal of my research program is to develop and apply new microbial biotechnologies that recover energy and nutrients from municipal wastewater, while protecting environmental and human health. The short-term objectives of this research program focus on applying genomics tools to model and advance three emerging biotechnologies that inclusively support the overall goal: (1) Energy-efficient biological P removal and recovery; (2) Low-energy N removal in mainstream wastewater. (3) Enhanced bioenergy recovery through anaerobic digester sludge pretreatment. This proposal includes plans for measuring the microbial rates of N, P, and C conversion within these bioprocesses, as well as for targeted metagenomic sequencing analysis of the active microbial populations. By combining process rate measurements with community-scale modelling, this research program will provide a mechanistic understanding of how microbes and their metabolisms interact to predict outcomes of important engineered processes that preserve Canada's clean water sources. This will lead to significantly lower operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions for wastewater treatment through energy and nutrient recovery.

并非每个人都喜欢考虑冲洗后会发生什么。但是，目前，人类发射的氮（N），磷（P）和碳（C）的发射到环境中比我们的星球所能进行的，这可能导致对人类可持续性至关重要的自然生态系统的恶化。国内废水是这些化合物的重要贡献者，废水现在是加拿大水源污染的最大贡献者。用于废水中的N，P和C的传统生物处理过程具有高能源需求和温室气体排放。微生物是这些生物治疗过程的驱动因素，但由于它们在实验室中的孤立困难，它们的多样性和代谢能力知之甚少。这种基本知识差距阻碍了新的生物技术的发展，这些生物技术可以从废水中恢复营养，生物能和清洁水作为可再生资源。诸如宏基因组学之类的无关培养基因组测序技术的最新进展可以帮助阐明复杂环境系统中新型微生物的代谢能力。然而，当前的生物废水处理设计方法落后于基因组革命，因为这样的建模平台并未考虑微生物生物量的代谢能力和多样性。我的研究计划将通过将下一代基因组测序数据纳入过程模型中，超越传统的废水处理设计方法，这些方法可以准确预测各种新兴生物反应器构型下的污染物转化。我的研究计划的长期目标是开发和应用新的微生物生物技术，这些生物技术从市政废水中收回能量和养分，同时保护环境和人类健康。该研究计划的短期目标着重于应用基因组学工具来建模并推进三种新兴的生物技术，这些生物技术包含了总体目标：（1）能源有效的生物P去除和恢复； （2）主流废水中的低能n去除。 （3）通过厌氧消化酯污泥预处理增强了生物能源恢复。该建议包括测量这些生物过程中N，P和C转化率的微生物速率的计划，以及活性微生物种群的靶向元基因组测序分析。通过将过程率测量与社区规模的建模相结合，该研究计划将提供机械理解，以了解微生物及其代谢如何相互作用，以预测保留加拿大清洁水源的重要工程过程的结果。这将导致通过能源和营养恢复的废水处理，从而显着降低运营成本和温室气体排放。