Biomimetic Design for a Bioengineered World

Biodesign can be explained as a method that includes various researches and applications related to taking inspiration from natural functions, systems, components, or processes in solving a problem. Accordingly, biodesign is commonly used in the design of artificial devices, structures, and buildings in the field of bioengineering. The recent developments in the field of biotechnology and bioengineering bring out various products that are designed in collaboration with different engineering disciplines. In this chapter, the possible use of bacteria, microalgae, and fungi for biomimetic design and the role of biomimicry for these designs will be briefly discussed

Design of Low-Cost Ethanol Production Medium From Syngas: An Optimization of Trace Metals for Clostridium Ljungdahlii

[Abstract] Syngas fermentation via the Wood-Ljungdahl (WL) pathway is a promising approach for converting gaseous pollutants (CO and CO2) into high-value commodities. Because the WL involves several enzymes with trace metal components, it requires an adequate supply of micronutrients in the fermentation medium for targeted bioprocessing such as bioethanol production. Plackett-Burman statistical analysis was performed to examine the most efficient trace elements (Ni, Mg, Ca, Mn, Co, Cu, B, W, Zn, Fe, and Mo) and their concentrations for Clostridium ljungdahlii on ethanol production. Overall, 1.5 to 2.5 fold improvement in ethanol production could be achieved with designed trace element concentrations. The effects of tungsten and copper on ethanol and biomass production were determined to be the most significant, respectively. The model developed was statistically significant and has the potential to significantly decrease the cost of trace element solutions by 18–22%. This research demonstrates the critical importance of optimizing the medium for syngas fermentation in terms of product distribution and economic feasibility.Turquía. Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey; 118Y305Turquía. Ege University; FDK-2020-22039Xunta de Galicia; ED481D 2019/03

Sustainable hydrogen production options from food wastes

WOS: 000436225600011In this study, two thermochemical processes, namely steam gasification and supercritical water gasification (SCWG), were comparatively studied to produce hydrogen from food wastes containing about 90% water. The SCWG experiments were performed at 400 and 450 degrees C in presence of catalyst (Trona, K2CO3 and seaweed ash). The maximum hydrogen yield was obtained at 450 degrees C in presence of K2CO3 catalyst. In second process, hydrothermal carbonization was used to convert food wastes into a high-quality solid fuel (hydrochar) that was further gasified in a dual-bed reactor in presence of steam. The steam gasification of hydrochar was carried out with and without catalysts (iron-ceria catalyst and dolomite). The maximum hydrogen yield obtained from steam gasification process was 28.08 mmol/g dry waste, about 7.7 times of that from SCWG. This study proposed a new concept for hydrogen production from wet biomass, combination of hydrothermal carbonization following steam gasification. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.TUBITAK-MAGTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [215-M-314]; Ege UniversityEge University [16-FEN-046]The financial support from TUBITAK-MAG under contract 215-M-314 and Ege University under contract 16-FEN-046 are gratefully acknowledged

Bioprocesses for resource recovery from waste gases: Current trends and industrial applications

[Abstract] Air pollution is a topic of important global concern because it has contributed significantly to an increase in the earth's global warming potential and contributed to severe health and environmental impacts. In this review, the different bioreactor configurations commonly used for waste gas treatment, namely the biofilters, the biotrickling filters and the bioscrubbers, and their industrial applications were compared in terms of the type of inoculum, the packing material/media, removal efficiency and elimination capacity. Typically, biofilters are operated under the following range of operating conditions: gas residence time = 15–60 s; gas flow rate = 50–300,000 m3 h−1; temperature = 15–30 °C; pH = 6.0–7.5; filter area = 100–3000 m2; relative humidity >95.0%; and removal efficiencies >75.0% depending on the waste gas composition and concentration. The biotechnological approaches for resource recovery, i.e., the conversion of C1 gaseous compounds (CO, CO2 and CH4) to liquified value-added products or biofuels have been discussed. From this review, it was evident that the performances of different aerobic, anoxic and/or anaerobic lab, pilot and full-scale bioreactors for waste gas treatment and resource recovery depend on the composition, the individual concentration of pollutants present in the waste gas and the gas flow rate. Although most of the research on product recovery from waste gas is rather limited to lab/pilot-scale studies, there are some key commercialized technologies that have proven to be economical at the full-scale. Thus, this review, comprehensively presents a complete overview of the current trends and limitations of conventional waste gas treatment systems, the benefits of novel bioreactor configurations and their potential to be applied for resource recovery from waste gases.RK acknowledges Antti Rissanen for her postdoctoral fellowship from the Kone Foundation, Finland [grant number 201803224]. TK, GD and HNA would like to acknowledge the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK-CAYDAG) [grant number 118Y305] for providing financial support. MG, TK and HNA would like to acknowledge TUBITAK-CAYDAG [grant number 120Y069] for the financial support. HNA also thanks the Xunta de Galicia (Spain) for his postdoctoral fellowship (ED481D 2019/033). BB thanks Xunta de Galicia (Spain) for her predoctoral fellowship (ED481A-2020/226). SKB is grateful to Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India for providing the necessary infrastructural and staff time support to carry out this research work. ERR thanks the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education for providing staff time and infrastructural support to collaborate with other researchers on this project. The authors would like to thank BioRender for providing an easy to use tool to prepare the schematics of the bioreactors.Finlandia. Kone Foundation; 201803224Turquía. Scientific and Technological Research Council; 118Y305Turquía. Scientific and Technological Research Council; 120Y069Xunta de Galicia; ED481D 2019/03