Research Projects

The global population increase and rapid industrialization have led to a continuous rise in energy demands, with 80% relying on fossil fuel reserves. This has led to the search for alternate energy sources, such as waste-to-energy, which is a promising approach for developing a cheaper and viable conversion process based on a circular economy. Organic wastes provide a significant resource of biomass, and the gasification of carbonaceous matter, including organic wastes, leads to the production of synthetic gas or syngas. Syngas, composed mainly of CO, H2, and CO2, can be converted to commercially important products such as biofuels (ethanol) and biochemicals (acetic acid), with high yields and selectivities. Syngas fermentation under mesophilic conditions offers inherent merits, such as high product specificity, significant product titers, low energy costs, and increased tolerance to impurities. Recent research initiatives have focused on bio-ethanol and higher alcohols, like bio-butanol, which can be obtained through syngas fermentation. These biofuels are suitable fuel alternatives to replace gasoline or to be mixed with these at different ratios as fuel additives to enhance the octane value of gasoline. However, major challenges with scale-up and operation include low yield, multiple product formation, and low gas to liquid transfer. This study aims to produce bio-ethanol and bio-butanol as drop-in biofuels from syngas under mesophilic conditions using anaerobic sludge biomass, optimizing and intensifying the syngas fermentation using a laboratory-scale bioreactor under continuous operation mode for its potential industrial application.