Two-stage bioconversion of carbon monoxide to biopolymers via formate as an intermediate

Ho Won Hwang, Jihee Yoon, Kyoungseon Min, Min Sik Kim, Seung Jin Kim, Dae Haeng Cho, Hadiyati Susila, Jeong Geol Na, Min Kyu Oh, Yong Hwan Kim

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    54 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Numerous industries discharge substantial amounts of carbon monoxide (CO) into the atmosphere as waste; utilizing CO-containing industrial waste gases to produce useful organic chemicals has recently attracted attention. Here, we constructed a two-stage biocatalytic CO-conversion system for producing poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), a promising degradable biopolymer. In the first stage, Acetobacterium woodii, an acetogenic bacterial strain containing CO dehydrogenase (CODH) and formate dehydrogenase (FDH), was used as a whole-cell biocatalyst to transform CO into formate independent of an external reducing agent, such as H2. The conversion yield and specificity were close to 100% when the strain's energy metabolism was blocked to suppress acetate production. The resulting formate was fed to a second bioreactor, where it was converted to PHB by engineered Methylbacterium extorquens AM1. The two-stage bioconversion of CO to a valuable product via formate as an intermediate offers a novel and promising strategy for CO utilization.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number124394
    JournalChemical Engineering Journal
    Volume389
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020 Jun 1

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This research was supported by the C1 Gas Refinery Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning ( 2015M3D3A1A01064919 ) and KCRC2020 (2014M1A8A10492).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

    Keywords

    • Biopolymer
    • Carbon monoxide
    • Formate
    • Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate
    • Two-stage bioconversion

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Chemistry
    • Environmental Chemistry
    • General Chemical Engineering
    • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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