Methods and systems for production of polyhydroxyalkanoate
AssigneeNewlight Technologies, LLC
InventorsMarkus Donald Herrema, Kenton Kimmel
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Abstract
Several embodiments of the invention relate generally to a system and methods for the treatment of gaseous emissions comprising methane and one or more non-methane compounds that can influence the metabolism of methane-oxidizing microorganisms. In several embodiments, there is provided a system and methods for the treatment of methane emissions through the use of methanotrophic microorganisms to generate functionally consistent and harvestable products. Certain embodiments of the invention are particularly advantageous because they reduce environmentally-destructive methane emissions and produce harvestable end-products.
Claims17
A method for producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) in a culture of methanotrophic microorganisms, the method comprising:
- a) providing a gas comprising methane and one or more non-methane substances;
- b) providing a culture of methanotrophic microorganisms;
- c) providing a microorganism culture medium comprising at least a first essential nutrient and a second essential nutrient;
- d) exposing said culture to said gas;
- e) controlling the concentration of said first essential nutrient in said culture medium to a concentration sufficient to induce said methanotrophic microorganisms to produce particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) or soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO);
- and
- f) controlling the concentration of said second essential nutrient, wherein said control of said second essential nutrient causes said methanotrophic microorganisms to produce said PHA.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.