Methanotrophic bacterial biorefineries: resource recovery and GHG mitigation through the production of bacterial biopolymers

Simon Guerrero Cruz^a,b,c, Maite Pijuan^b,c

Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Pathum Thani, Thailand.

Wastewater treatment relies on the concerted activity of a diverse set of microbial populations which depending on the conditions, can produce harmful greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Furthermore, conventional wastewater treatment produces high quantities of waste sludge that requires post-treatment, thus increasing the costs and, greenhouse gas emissions, and the carbon footprint. In addition, the lack of regulation on greenhouse gas mitigation results in nonquantified and nonregulated emissions to the atmosphere from wastewater. Anaerobic digestion systems are a useful tool for the production and recovery of energy from organic waste in the form of methane-rich gas mixtures, commonly referred to as biogas.

Keywords: Methane, Methanotrophic microorganisms, Resource recovery, Circular bioeconomy, Bacterial biopolymers.