Improving gas fixation in acetogenic bacteria

Waste gases are an increasing concern for their impact on the environment. This includes carbon dioxide (CO₂) produced from industry and transportation, and methane from distributed oil wells and shale gas formations. Generally, these gases are released to the environment, or CH₄ is burned to CO₂, as CH4 is a more harmful greenhouse gas than CO₂. Researchers are increasingly interested in methods to fix these two gases into valuable fuels and chemicals so as to achieve a sustainable economy. However, any such technology must be economically viable to ensure widespread adoption in the regions that these gases are released. Yet biological gas fixation has many limitations that currently prevent practical implementation. This includes biological limitations such as slow growth rates, and low biomass and product titers. Process limitations are also a concern, as full conversion is desirable and gas mass transfer can be a substantial rate limiting step.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Emerson, David Frederic.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gregory Stephanopoulos.

• Chemical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121889

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/121889