Acetogenic Fermentation From Oxygen Containing Waste Gas

The microbial production of bulk chemicals from waste gas is becoming a pertinent alternative to industrial strategies that rely on fossil fuels as substrate. Acetogens can use waste gas substrates or syngas (CO, CO$_{2}$, H$_{2}$) to produce chemicals, such as acetate or ethanol, but as the feed gas often contains oxygen, which inhibits acetogen growth and product formation, a cost-prohibitive chemical oxygen removal step is necessary. Here, we have developed a two-phase microbial system to facilitate acetate production using a gas mixture containing CO and O$_{2}$. In the first phase the facultative anaerobic carboxydotroph Parageobacillus thermoglucosidasius was used to consume residual O$_{2}$ and produce H$_{2}$ and CO$_{2}$, which was subsequently utilized by the acetogen Clostridium ljungdahlii for the production of acetate. From a starting amount of 3.3 mmol of CO, 0.52 mmol acetate was produced in the second phase by C. ljungdahlii. In this set-up, the yield achieved was 0.16mol acetate/mol CO, a 63% of the theoretical maximum. This system has the potential to be developed for the production of a broad range of bulk chemicals from oxygen-containing waste gas by using P. ... mehrthermoglucosidasius as an oxygen scrubbing tool.