This library entry contains background documents for a grant that Yinjie Tang is leading and which is funded by the WSH Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation under the Grand Challenge Exploration (GCE) Round 7. Further information and a discussion is available on the SuSanA discussion Forum, see link below. Sewage sludge rich in carbohydrates and other nutrients could be a good feedstock for fuel/chemical production. In this study, fungal and engineered bacterial cultivations were integrated with a modified anaerobic digestion to accumulate fatty acids on sewage sludge. The anaerobic digestion was first adjusted to enable acetogenic bacteria to accumulate acetate. A fungus (Mortierella isabellina) and an engineered bacterium (Escherichia coli created by optimizing acetate utilization and fatty acid biosynthesis as well as overexpressing a regulatory transcription factor fadR) were then cultured on the acetate solution to accumulate fatty acids. The engineered bacterium had higher fatty acid yield and titer than the fungus. Both medium- and long-chain fatty acids (C12:0–C18:0) were produced by the engineered bacterium, while the fungus mainly synthesized long-chain fatty acids (C16:0–C18:3). This study demonstrated a potential path that combines fungus or engineered bacterium with anaerobic digestion to achieve simultaneous organic waste treatment and advanced biofuel production. Journal paper: Liu, Z., Ruan, Z., Xiao, Y., Yu, Y., Tang Y.J., Liao, W., Liu, Y. Integration of anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge with advanced biofuel synthesis. Bioresource Technology. 2013. 132:166-170 You can get this article from the journal homepage (we cannot provide it for download here because it is protected by copyright): www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Available documents for download below: 1 - Presentation at Faecal Sludge Management (FSM-2)Conference in Durban, South Africa in October 2012

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Tang, Y. (2013). Conversion of fecal waste to biofuels by engineered microbes Various documents on results from research grant Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis, USA

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Fundamental research and engineeringEnglish

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