Dataset Information

Microbial Communities in Flexible Biomethanation of Hydrogen Are Functionally Resilient Upon Starvation.

ABSTRACT: Ex situ biomethanation allows the conversion of hydrogen produced from surplus electricity to methane. The flexibility of the process was recently demonstrated, yet it is unknown how intermittent hydrogen feeding impacts the functionality of the microbial communities. We investigated the effect of starvation events on the hydrogen consumption and methane production rates (MPRs) of two different methanogenic communities that were fed with hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Both communities showed functional resilience in terms of hydrogen consumption and MPRs upon starvation periods of up to 14 days. The origin of the inoculum, community structure and dominant methanogens were decisive for high gas conversion rates. Thus, pre-screening a well performing inoculum is essential to ensure the efficiency of biomethanation systems operating under flexible gas feeding regimes. Our results suggest that the type of the predominant hydrogenotrophic methanogen (here: Methanobacterium) is important for an efficient process. We also show that flexible biomethanation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide with complex microbiota is possible while avoiding the accumulation of acetate, which is relevant for practical implementation. In our study, the inoculum from an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor treating wastewater from paper industry performed better compared to the inoculum from a plug flow reactor treating cow manure and corn silage. Therefore, the implementation of the power-to-gas concept in wastewater treatment plants of the paper industry, where biocatalytic biomass is readily available, may be a viable option to reduce the carbon footprint of the paper industry.

SUBMITTER: Logrono W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7904901 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Microbial Communities in Flexible Biomethanation of Hydrogen Are Functionally Resilient Upon Starvation.

Logroño Washington W Popp Denny D Nikolausz Marcell M Kluge Paul P Harms Hauke H Kleinsteuber Sabine S

Frontiers in microbiology 20210211

<i>Ex situ</i> biomethanation allows the conversion of hydrogen produced from surplus electricity to methane. The flexibility of the process was recently demonstrated, yet it is unknown how intermittent hydrogen feeding impacts the functionality of the microbial communities. We investigated the effect of starvation events on the hydrogen consumption and methane production rates (MPRs) of two different methanogenic communities that were fed with hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Both communities showe ...[more]

PMID: 33643248

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Project description:BackgroundBiomethanation is a promising solution to upgrade the CH4 content in biogas. This process consists in the injection of H2 into an anaerobic digester, using the capacity of indigenous hydrogenotrophic methanogens for converting the injected H2 and the CO2 generated from the anaerobic digestion process into CH4. However, the injection of H2 could cause process disturbances by impacting the microbial communities of the anaerobic digester. Better understanding on how the indigenous microbial community can adapt to high H2 partial pressures is therefore required.ResultsSeven microbial inocula issued from industrial bioprocesses treating different types of waste were exposed to a high H2 partial pressure in semi-continuous reactors. After 12 days of operation, even though both CH4 and volatile fatty acids (VFA) were produced as end products, one of them was the main product. Acetate was the most abundant VFA, representing up to 94% of the total VFA production. VFA accumulation strongly anti-correlated with CH4 production according to the source of inoculum. Three clusters of inocula were distinguished: (1) inocula leading to CH4 production, (2) inocula leading to the production of methane and VFA in a low proportion, and (3) inocula leading to the accumulation of mostly VFA, mainly acetate. Interestingly, VFA accumulation was highly correlated to a low proportion of archaea in the inocula, a higher amount of homoacetogens than hydrogenotrophic methanogens and, the absence or the very low abundance in members from the Methanosarcinales order. The best methanogenic performances were obtained when hydrogenotrophic methanogens and Methanosarcina sp. co-dominated all along the operation.ConclusionsNew insights on the microbial community response to high H2 partial pressure are provided in this work. H2 injection in semi-continuous reactors showed a significant impact on microbial communities and their associated metabolic patterns. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens, Methanobacterium sp. or Methanoculleus sp. were highly selected in the reactors, but the presence of co-dominant Methanosarcinales related species were required to produce higher amounts of CH4 than VFA.

Project description:Microorganisms are critically important for the function of surface water ecosystems but are frequently subjected to anthropogenic disturbances at either acute (pulse) or long-term (press) scales. Response and recovery of microbial community composition and function following pulse disturbance is well-studied in controlled, laboratory scale experiments but is less well-understood in natural environments undergoing continual press disturbance. The objectives of this study were to determine the drivers of sediment microbial compositional and functional changes in freshwaters receiving continual press disturbance from agricultural land runoff and to evaluate the ability of the native microbial community to resist disturbance related changes as a proxy for freshwater ecosystem health. Freshwater sediments were collected seasonally over 1 year in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, a region impacted by concentrated dairy cattle farming, manure fertilization, and associated agricultural runoff which together serve as a press disturbance. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we found that sediments in locations strongly impacted by intensive agriculture contain significantly higher abundances (p < 0.01) of the genera Thiobacillus, Methylotenera, Crenotrhix, Nitrospira, and Rhodoferax compared to reference sediments, and functions including nitrate reduction, nitrite reduction, and nitrogen respiration are significantly higher (p < 0.05) at locations in close proximity to large farms. Nine species-level potential human pathogens were identified in riverine sediments including Acinetobacer lwoffi and Arcobacter skirrowii, two pathogens associated with the cattle microbiome. Microbial community composition at locations in close proximity to intensive agriculture was not resistant nor resilient to agricultural runoff disturbance within 5 months post-disturbance but did reach a new, stable microbial composition. From this data, we conclude that sediment microbial community composition is sensitive and shifts in response to chemical and microbial pollution from intensive agriculture, has a low capacity to resist infiltration by non-native, harmful bacteria and, overall, the natural buffering capacity of freshwater ecosystems is unable to fully resist the impacts from agricultural press disturbance.

Dataset Information

Microbial Communities in Flexible Biomethanation of Hydrogen Are Functionally Resilient Upon Starvation.

Publications

Microbial Communities in Flexible Biomethanation of Hydrogen Are Functionally Resilient Upon Starvation.

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