Novel approach to production of high-value biochemicals and simultaneous removal of emerging contaminants using waste biomass by biofilm reactors

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The global market for fermentation derived fine chemicals in 2009 was $16 billion and is forecasted to increase to $76.16 billion by 2016. Most of these biochemicals have been developed through batch and fed-batch fermentation requiring higher production costs as compared to a continuous operation. To address these issues, biofilm reactors can be used to process waste biomass, such as municipal and industrial wastes. These wastes are also loaded with emerging contaminants which need to be monitored to ascertain the complete non-toxicity of the developed product. The proposed research programme considers a novel approach to produce high-value biochemicals and simultaneously detoxify the wastes using innovative biofilm technology. The research can be grouped into three principal objectives and 6 sub-objectives: A: Fungal biofilm development; a) development of advanced, stable fungal biofilm reactors using encapsulation technique, and b) biofilm physiology study; B: Bioproduction of platform biochemicals: c) production of fumaric acid by the fungus, Rhizopus oryzae, d) production of malic acid by the fungus, Aspergillus flavus, and e) fungal biomass reuse and techno-economic analysis; and C: Simultaneous removal of emerging contaminants (ECs) during bioproduction: f) determination of fate of principal waste bound ECs during the bioproduction of biochemicals.The original approach of development of biofilm reactor technologies for the non-conventional waste biomass streams will further enhance our knowledge on robustness and utilization of these processes for the production of biochemicals. Additionally, this multidisciplinary project will provide opportunities in the generation of HQP for Canada, namely, undergraduates and graduate students (M.Sc, Ph.D.) in different disciplines of applied microbiology, biochemical engineering, analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, wastewater treatment and disposal and wastewater sludge management.