Biofuel and chemical production from carbon one industry flux gas by acetogenic bacteria

Influence of Areca Nutshell-Reduced Graphene Oxide, Isopropanol, and Exhaust Gas Recirculation in an Internal Combustion Engine

Regulations governing pollution, declining fossil fuel supply, and technological breakthroughs in renewable fuels all have a profound influence on the development of alternative fuels. This current research focuses on the influence of nanoadditives with alcohol in an exhaust gas recirculation-cooled engine. As nanoadditives have high thermal conductivity and alcohol has high oxygen content, they work synergistically to speed up the catalytic process and increase the combustion rate. The areca nutshell-reduced graphene oxide with a mass fraction of 25 pmm was ultrasonically blended with two isopropanol-diesel mixtures 10% isopropanol + 90% diesel (IDR10) and 20% isopropanol + 80% diesel (IDR20), respectively, and tested in a single-cylinder, 4-stroke internal-combustion engine at a typical injection timing of 23° TDC with an EGR rate of 20%. The results of experiments showed that IDR10 has better combustion and emission parameters than other fuel blends. Compared to other biodiesel blends, the IDR10 blend has 2.3% less BSFC and 2.45% more BTE. The IDR10 blend has lower HC emissions by 42.85%, CO emissions by 33.34%, NO _x emissions by 2.42%, and smoke emissions by 15.4%.

Next-generation -omics approaches to drive carboxylate production by acidogenic fermentation of food waste: a review

Acidogenic fermentation of food waste using mixed microbial cultures can produce carboxylates [or volatile fatty acids (VFA)] as high-valued bioproducts via a complex interplay of microorganisms during different stages of this process. However, the present fermentation systems are incapable of reaching the industrially relevant VFA production yields of ≥50 g/L primarly due to the complex process operation, competitive metabolic pathways, and limited understanding of microbial interplays. Recent reports have demonstrated the significant roles played by microbial communities from different phyla, which work together to control the process kinetics of various stages underlying acidogenic fermentation. In order to fully delineate the abundance, structure, and functionality of these microbial communities, next-generation high-throughput meta-omics technologies are required. In this article, we review the potential of metagenomics and metatranscriptomics approaches to enable microbial community engineering. Specifically, a deeper analysis of taxonomic relationships, shifts in microbial communities, and differences in the genetic expression of key pathway enzymes under varying operational and environmental parameters of acidogenic fermentation could lead to the identification of species-level functionalities for both cultivable and non-cultivable microbial fractions. Furthermore, it could also be used for successful gene sequence-guided microbial isolation and consortium development for bioaugmentation to allow VFA production with high concentrations and purity. Such highly controlled and engineered microbial systems could pave the way for tailored and high-yielding VFA synthesis, thereby creating a petrochemically competitive waste-to-value chain and promoting the circular bioeconomy.Research HighlightsMixed microbial mediated acidogenic fermentation of food waste.Metagenomics and metatranscriptomics based microbial community analysis.Omics derived function-associated microbial isolation and consortium engineering.High-valued sustainable carboxylate bio-products, i.e. volatile fatty acids.