The European project MICRO4BIOGAS, funded by the European Commission, aims to improve the performance, robustness, and speed of biogas production processes through anaerobic digestion and increase process efficiency. As part of this project, DARWIN has isolated and characterized microbial strains with hydrolytic, acidogenic, and acetogenic activities from samples of anaerobic digesters. The Darwinibacteriales group is one of the most abundant in biogas production reactors but had never been deeply characterized before.

Researchers collected 80 samples of decomposing organic matter from 45 large-scale biogas production plants (in Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria) and sequenced their DNA to study their microbial composition. Surprisingly, members of Darwinibacteriales were present in all 80 samples, despite differences and distances between these plants.

Problem

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), livestock and crop production represent a significant percentage of pollutants entering the environment, posing an ecological challenge to address.

Furthermore, some of the most proliferated renewable energy sources in recent years (wind and photovoltaic) present significant drawbacks, such as their limited or nonexistent energy management capacity or their dependence on weather conditions.

Despite the energy potential of biogas, the implementation of construction projects for its production often depends on public subsidies, leaving room for improvement in terms of its competitiveness compared to currently more profitable resources, such as fossil fuels.

Solution

Biogas (a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide, and traces of other gases) is an energy resource whose main sources include livestock and agro-industrial waste, sludge from urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and the organic fraction of household waste. It plays a significant role in energy transition due to its ability to integrate circular economy principles into renewable energy generation.

Moreover, biogas is easily storable and allows for the creation of manageable power plants, with great potential for exploitation in Europe. It is the only renewable energy that can be used for any of the major energy applications: electricity, heat, or fuel.

DARWIN’s research results point towards a potential increase in biogas plant productivity, which would enhance its competitiveness and pave the way for the reuse of waste, such as livestock and agro-industrial waste or WWTPs, without needing subsidies to be addressed.

Year of Completion: 2023

Success

Improving biogas production would constitute a paradigm shift in the energy industry, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and imported energy. The goal is to establish biogas plants with more robust procedures that are less reliant on subsidies to operate competitively, thereby boosting renewable energies worldwide.

Press releases

• A research coordinated by the UV discovers bacteria that could improve biogas production – Europa Press (in Spanish)

Papers

• Unveiling the ecology, taxonomy and metabolic capabilities of MBA03, a potential key player in anaerobic digestion.

  Roser Puchol-Royo, Javier Pascual, Asier Ortega-Legarreta, Pascal Otto, Jeroen Tideman, Sjoerd-Jan de Vries, Christian Abendroth, Kristie Tanner, Manuel Porcar, Adriel Latorre-Perez.

  bioRxiv 2023.09.08.556800; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.08.556800
• Multivariate comparison of taxonomic, chemical and technical data from 80 full-scale an-aerobic digester-related systems.

  Pascal Otto, Roser Puchol-Royo, Asier Ortega-Legarreta, Kristie Tanner, Jeroen Tideman, Sjoerd-Jan de Vries, Javier Pascual, Manuel Porcar, Adriel Latorre-Perez, Christian Abendroth.

  bioRxiv 2023.09.08.556802; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.08.556802

Funded by: European Comission (Horizon 2020), grant agreement 101000470