A research project in which the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen Sciences is involved deals with the use of methane-producing microorganisms in the industrial bioeconomy. Prof. Dr. Dirk Holtmann from Gießen 's Life Science Engineering department is working with the Institute of Microbiology at TU Dresden. Other cooperation partners include the universities in Kiel and Tübingen and Electrochea GmbH. The Munich start-up has developed a novel process for converting the greenhouse gas CO2 and electrical energy into natural gas. This “power-to-gas technology” is used to store electricity from renewable sources. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the THM sub-project with 340,000 euros.
Methanogens are methanogenic microbes that have so far been used in industry as efficient biogas producers. On the one hand, the project partners want to optimize the power-to-gas process and, on the other hand, create a basis for the industrial production of higher-quality biotechnological products. This can be, for example, isoprene, which is used in the manufacture of rubber. However, other basic substances that are components of turpentine or odoriferous and flavoring substances can also be used.
Holtmann sees this as a step on the way from the existing petrochemical-based economy to a bioeconomy. “In the future, the bioeconomy will not only use renewable raw materials for the production of chemicals and fuels, but also regenerative electrical energy sources. This bioelectrosynthesis is therefore an ideal platform for establishing processes with high energy and raw material efficiency and high flexibility for buffering current peaks. The use of CO2 as a raw material also expands the raw material base and reduces the amount of CO2 produced,” explains the university lecturer.
The Gießen research group deals with the development of new and the optimization of existing cultivation principles of methanogens. The cooperation partners are working on the further development of current methods of genetic manipulation of the methanogenic microbes and the expansion of their application potential beyond methane production. The project has a duration of three years and is being supported by the BMBF with a total of two million euros as part of the "National Research Strategy BioEconomy 2030".