Engineering biology in the face of uncertainty.

Combining engineering and biology surely must be a route to delivering solutions to the world's most pressing problems in depleting resources, energy and the environment. Engineers and biologists have long recognized the power in coupling their disciplines and have evolved a healthy variety of approaches to realizing technologies. Yet recently, there has been a movement to narrow the remit of engineering biology.

Methanotroph-microalgae co-culture for greenhouse gas mitigation: Effect of initial biomass ratio and methane concentration.

This work evaluated the effect of different initial biomass ratios in a co-culture of an alkaliphilic methanotrophic bacteria consortium (AMB) and the green microalga Scenedesmus obtusiusculus (GM) on the maximum CH specific biodegradation rate and global carbon uptake. The highest maximum specific biodegradation rate was 589 ± 0.01 mg g d obtained for a proportion of 3:1 AMB-GM (w w) and 8% of initial CH in the headspace.

Control of dissolved CH in a municipal UASB reactor effluent by means of a desorption - Biofiltration arrangement.

The direct anaerobic treatment of municipal wastewater represents an adapted technology to the conditions of developing countries. In order to get an increased acceptance of this technology, a proper control of dissolved methane in the anaerobic effluents should be considered, as methane is a potent greenhouse gas. In this study, a pilot-scale system was operated for 168 days to recover dissolved methane from an effluent of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor and then oxidize it in a compost biofilter.