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Bellini R, Vasile NS, Bassani I, Vizzarro A, Coti C, Barbieri D, Scapolo M, Pirri CF, Verga F, Menin B. Investigating the activity of indigenous microbial communities from Italian depleted gas reservoirs and their possible impact on underground hydrogen storage. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1392410. [PMID: 38725680 PMCID: PMC11079786 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1392410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
H2 produced from renewable energies will play a central role in both greenhouse gas reduction and decarbonization by 2050. Nonetheless, to improve H2 diffusion and utilization as a fuel, large storage capacity systems are needed. Underground storage of natural gas in depleted reservoirs, aquifers and salt caverns is a well-established technology. However, new challenges arise when it comes to storing hydrogen due to the occurrence and activity of indigenous microbial populations in deep geological formations. In a previous study, four Italian natural gas reservoirs were characterized both from a hydro-chemical and microbiological point of view, and predictive functional analyses were carried out with the perspective of underground hydrogen storage (UHS). In the present work, formation waters from the same reservoirs were used as inoculant during batch cultivation tests to characterize microbial activity and its effects on different gas mixtures. Results evidence a predominant acidogenic/acetogenic activity, whilst methanogenic and sulfate reducing activity were only marginal for all tested inoculants. Furthermore, the microbial activation of tested samples is strongly influenced by nutrient availability. Obtained results were fitted and screened in a computational model which would allow deep insights in the study of microbial activity in the context of UHS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruggero Bellini
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
| | - Nicolò Santi Vasile
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Ilaria Bassani
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
| | - Arianna Vizzarro
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
| | | | | | | | - Candido Fabrizio Pirri
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Francesca Verga
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Barbara Menin
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- National Research Council, Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology (CNR-IBBA), Milan, Italy
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Usai G, Cordara A, Mazzocchi E, Re A, Fino D, Pirri CF, Menin B. Coupling dairy wastewaters for nutritional balancing and water recycling: sustainable heterologous 2-phenylethanol production by engineered cyanobacteria. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2024; 12:1359032. [PMID: 38497052 PMCID: PMC10940361 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1359032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Microalgae biotechnology is hampered by the high production costs and the massive usage of water during large-volume cultivations. These drawbacks can be softened by the production of high-value compounds and by adopting metabolic engineering strategies to improve their performances and productivity. Today, the most sustainable approach is the exploitation of industrial wastewaters for microalgae cultivation, which couples valuable biomass production with water resource recovery. Among the food processing sectors, the dairy industry generates the largest volume of wastewaters through the manufacturing process. These effluents are typically rich in dissolved organic matter and nutrients, which make it a challenging and expensive waste stream for companies to manage. Nevertheless, these rich wastewaters represent an appealing resource for microalgal biotechnology. In this study, we propose a sustainable approach for high-value compound production from dairy wastewaters through cyanobacteria. This strategy is based on a metabolically engineered strain of the model cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 (already published elsewhere) for 2-phenylethanol (2-PE). 2-PE is a high-value aromatic compound that is widely employed as a fragrance in the food and cosmetics industry thanks to its pleasant floral scent. First, we qualitatively assessed the impact of four dairy effluents on cyanobacterial growth to identify the most promising substrates. Both tank-washing water and the liquid effluent of exhausted sludge resulted as suitable nutrient sources. Thus, we created an ideal buffer system by combining the two wastewaters while simultaneously providing balanced nutrition and completely avoiding the need for fresh water. The combination of 75% liquid effluent of exhausted sludge and 25% tank-washing water with a fine-tuning ammonium supplementation yielded 180 mg L-1 of 2-PE and a biomass concentration of 0.6 gDW L-1 within 10 days. The mixture of 90% exhausted sludge and 10% washing water produced the highest yield of 2-PE (205 mg L-1) and biomass accumulation (0.7 gDW L-1), although in 16 days. Through these treatments, the phosphates were completely consumed, and nitrogen was removed in a range of 74%-77%. Overall, our approach significantly valorized water recycling and the exploitation of valuable wastewaters to circularly produce marketable compounds via microalgae biotechnology, laying a promising groundwork for subsequent implementation and scale-up.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Usai
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Department of Applied Science and Technology—DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Alessandro Cordara
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering—DIATI, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Elena Mazzocchi
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Department of Applied Science and Technology—DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Angela Re
- Department of Applied Science and Technology—DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Debora Fino
- Department of Applied Science and Technology—DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Candido Fabrizio Pirri
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Department of Applied Science and Technology—DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Barbara Menin
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Istituto di Biologia e Biotecnologia Agraria, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche IBBA-CNR, Milan, Italy
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Carone M, Alpe D, Costantino V, Derossi C, Occhipinti A, Zanetti M, Riggio VA. Design and characterization of a new pressurized flat panel photobioreactor for microalgae cultivation and CO 2 bio-fixation. CHEMOSPHERE 2022; 307:135755. [PMID: 35868532 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.135755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2022] [Revised: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Microalgae-based biorefinery processes are gaining particular importance as a biotechnological tool for direct carbon dioxide fixation and production of high-quality biomass and energy feedstock for different industrial markets. However, despite the many technological advances in photobioreactor designs and operations, microalgae cultivation is still limited due to the low yields achieved in open systems and to the high investment and operation costs of closed photobioreactors. In this work, a new alveolar flat panel photobioreactor was designed and characterized with the aim of achieving high microalgae productivities and CO2 bio-fixation rates. Moreover, the energy efficiency of the employed pump-assisted hydraulic circuit was evaluated. The 1.3 cm thick alveolar flat-panels enhance the light utilization, whereas the hydraulic design of the photobioreactor aims to improve the global CO2 gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient (kLaCO2). The mixing time, liquid flow velocity, and kLaCO2 as well as the uniformity matrix of the artificial lighting source were experimentally calculated. The performance of the system was tested by cultivating the green microalga Acutodesmus obliquus. A volumetric biomass concentration equal to 1.9 g L-1 was achieved after 7 days under controlled indoor cultivation conditions with a CO2 bio-fixation efficiency of 64% of total injected CO2. The (gross) energy consumption related to substrate handling was estimated to be between 27 and 46 Wh m-3, without any cost associated to CO2 injection and O2 degassing. The data suggest that this pilot-scale cultivation system may constitute a relevant technology in the development of microalgae-based industrial scenario for CO2 mitigation and biomass production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Carone
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy.
| | - Davis Alpe
- Photo B-Otic S.r.l., Via Paolo Veronese 202, 10148, Torino, Italy
| | - Valentina Costantino
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy
| | - Clara Derossi
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy
| | - Andrea Occhipinti
- Abel Nutraceuticals S.r.l., Via Paolo Veronese 202, 10148, Torino, Italy
| | - Mariachiara Zanetti
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy
| | - Vincenzo A Riggio
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy
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Usai G, Cordara A, Re A, Polli MF, Mannino G, Bertea CM, Fino D, Pirri CF, Menin B. Combining metabolite doping and metabolic engineering to improve 2-phenylethanol production by engineered cyanobacteria. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:1005960. [PMID: 36204466 PMCID: PMC9530348 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.1005960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
2-Phenylethanol (2-PE) is a rose-scented aromatic compound, with broad application in cosmetic, pharmaceutical, food and beverage industries. Many plants naturally synthesize 2-PE via Shikimate Pathway, but its extraction is expensive and low-yielding. Consequently, most 2-PE derives from chemical synthesis, which employs petroleum as feedstock and generates unwanted by products and health issues. The need for "green" processes and the increasing public demand for natural products are pushing biotechnological production systems as promising alternatives. So far, several microorganisms have been investigated and engineered for 2-PE biosynthesis, but a few studies have focused on autotrophic microorganisms. Among them, the prokaryotic cyanobacteria can represent ideal microbial factories thanks to their ability to photosynthetically convert CO2 into valuable compounds, their minimal nutritional requirements, high photosynthetic rate and the availability of genetic and bioinformatics tools. An engineered strain of Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 for 2-PE production, i.e., p120, was previously published elsewhere. The strain p120 expresses four heterologous genes for the complete 2-PE synthesis pathway. Here, we developed a combined approach of metabolite doping and metabolic engineering to improve the 2-PE production kinetics of the Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 p120 strain. Firstly, the growth and 2-PE productivity performances of the p120 recombinant strain were analyzed to highlight potential metabolic constraints. By implementing a BG11 medium doped with L-phenylalanine, we covered the metabolic burden to which the p120 strain is strongly subjected, when the 2-PE pathway expression is induced. Additionally, we further boosted the carbon flow into the Shikimate Pathway by overexpressing the native Shikimate Kinase in the Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 p120 strain (i.e., 2PE_aroK). The combination of these different approaches led to a 2-PE yield of 300 mg/gDW and a maximum 2-PE titer of 285 mg/L, 2.4-fold higher than that reported in literature for the p120 recombinant strain and, to our knowledge, the highest recorded for photosynthetic microorganisms, in photoautotrophic growth condition. Finally, this work provides the basis for further optimization of the process aimed at increasing 2-PE productivity and concentration, and could offer new insights about the use of cyanobacteria as appealing microbial cell factories for the synthesis of aromatic compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Usai
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Department of Applied Science and Technology—DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Alessandro Cordara
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
| | - Angela Re
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
| | - Maria Francesca Polli
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences—DISAFA, University of Turin, Grugliasco, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Mannino
- Plant Physiology Unit, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Cinzia Margherita Bertea
- Plant Physiology Unit, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Debora Fino
- Department of Applied Science and Technology—DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Candido Fabrizio Pirri
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
- Department of Applied Science and Technology—DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Barbara Menin
- Centre for Sustainable Future Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Turin, Italy
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Facilitating the industrial transition to microbial and microalgal factories through mechanistic modelling within the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Curr Opin Chem Eng 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.coche.2021.100713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
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