Better together: electron-directed synergistic interactions in Clostridium co-cultures for improved alcohol production
ENG- The need for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels powers up science in the study of new energy sources. One of these alternatives is anaerobic fermentation, a process in which bacteria transform organic carbon into ethanol or butanol, two examples of carbon-zero fuels. In this thesis, we fo...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | CBUC, CESCA |
| Repositorio: | TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/695354 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10803/695354 |
| Access Level: | acceso embargado |
| Palabra clave: | Clostridium Co-cultius sintètics Co-cultivos sintéticos Synthetic co-cultures Fermentació Fermentación Fermentation Producció d'alcohols Producción de alcoholes Alcohol production Sinergies Sinergias Synergies Electromicrobiologia Electromicrobiología Electromicrobiology Reaccions redox Reacciones redox Redox reactions 00 502 57 |
| Sumario: | ENG- The need for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels powers up science in the study of new energy sources. One of these alternatives is anaerobic fermentation, a process in which bacteria transform organic carbon into ethanol or butanol, two examples of carbon-zero fuels. In this thesis, we focus on studying and improving alcohol fermentation in three species of Clostridium. Clostridium spp. have been known for more than a century due to their ability for acetone, butanol and ethanol fermentation. Our goal is to improve fermentation capacities using tandem cultures of two or three species, thus gaining the most valuable properties of each one. Species combination is known as synthetic co-cultures, and focuses on exploiting complementary functions of the two consortium members. For example, the hydrolysis of cellulose into simple sugars by a cellulolytic species (C. cellulovorans) can be combined with an alcohol producer (C. acetobutylicum) and a CO2 fixing organism (C. carboxidivorans) to take the most of the energy contained in cellulose material. The use of synthetic consortia improves substrate spectrum (e.g. by using cheaper and abundant sources) and increases production yield (e.g. minimizing carbon waste as gaseous products). We also explored whether the addition of electroactive compounds – such as magnetite – can enhance the cooperation between the species in the synthetic consortium. Cooperative capacity is measured in terms of butanol production. This doctoral thesis presents new insights into the functioning of synthetic consortia and opens up new possibilities for developing efficient and flexible biotechnological systems for more sustainable energy production |
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