Developing new strategies to improve the sustainability of human-made ecosystems. This area is a part of our highly collaborative research effort to address virtually all anthropogenic methane sources by developing an environment-friendly approach to converting small sources of methane to value-added chemicals (see our current projects).

Current research projects:

ARPA-e: Process intensification of biological natural gas conversion through innovative bioreactor design. (in collaboration with Dr. D. Griffin, LanzaTech). The goal of this research is to establish a microbial platform for the targeted production of diesel fuel from natural gas. The research aims include (1) the metabolic engineering of a catalytic system to increase fatty acid production; and (2) the optimization of the overall fermentation process, including bioreactor design, gas-transfer, and operational parameters to obtain maximum productivity of biomass from natural gas with low input/recycling of nutrients. Dr. Kalyuzhnaya’s team contributes to the construction of novel methanotrophic traits producing long-chain alkanes and the optimization of cultivation parameters including novel sources of nitrogen (urea instead of nitrate) and sulfur (H₂S instead of sulfate).

DOE: Biogas valorization: development of a methane-to-adipic acid bioprocess. (in collaboration with Dr. M. Guarnieri, NREL and Dr. M. Flickinger at NCSU).  This work is focused on the development of a methanotrophic catalyst for conversion of biogas into adipic acid, an industrially important precursor for polymer synthesis. The core of the fermentation technology is based on the metabolic alteration of carbon flux from C₁-to-C₃ and the optimization of multiphase microchannel bioreactors, where the catalytic process happens at a phase boundary between a gas and a liquid. Dr. Kalyuzhnaya’s team uses systems biology approaches to obtain a predictive understanding of flux through metabolic pathways in M. alcaliphilum sp. 20Z involved in production and utilization of precursors to adipic acid synthesis in the context of the global metabolic network.

NSF-CBET: Microbial conversion of greenhouse gases into fermentation-ready sugars. In this project we will explore a new dry fermentation process for biological methane utilization which is based on the unique ability of salt-loving, methane-consuming bacteria to not only stay active in an immobilized state without water supplementation but also to accumulate sugar (i.e., sucrose) in response to low water availability. Dry fermentation merges the full potential of biological systems with technology development to address affordable methane mitigation.  The module is envisioned as an array of micro-fibers with active methane-consuming cells engineered to convert methane into extractable sucrose. If validated, the platform could represent a transformative solution for methane mitigation which offers the following advantages: (i) complete conversion of a significant greenhouse gas into an economically usable compound; (ii) a scalable, closed, low-complexity system; (iii) a new cost-effective approach to sustainability with the potential to convert pollution control and mitigation into an economically beneficial industry; (iv) improved life cycle parameters and the long-term sustainability of established and newly emerging bio-technologies that produce methane as a byproduct.  The module could be developed further into air-purifying cartridges that could be implemented at any hot-spot of methane emission, as a sustainable alternative to gas flare.