Innovative Biochemical Engineering Approaches for Clean Water and Added Value

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The doubling of the earth's population in the last 50 years poses several significant challenges for society including pressure for limited food supplies, shrinking availability of safe drinking water and increases in harmful algal blooms (HABs) on a global scale. ******The overall goals of the research program in this NSERC Discovery Grant application are to investigate the applications of microbes or their components for clean water and value recovery from waste.****** Two specific problems are being addressed in this proposal. ******First, wastewater streams from the bio-ethanol industry will be*investigated for the production of high value bio-polymer, pullulan from the black*yeast/fungus Aureobasidium pullulans. In particular, thin stillage,*which is generated from the distillation step will be targeted. This*thin stillage is a polluting stream due to low pH, high ash, large*volumes (20:1 per litre of ethanol produced) and high biochemical and*chemical oxygen demand. In this proposal, a two stage bioprocess will be*designed, investigated and developed for the recovery of lactic*acid and the production of pullulan. Both these byproducts have*commercial potential in the agri-food, pharmaceutical and biomedical*industries. ******The second research problem is concerned with the growing challenges with plastic wastes. Approximately 300 million tons of plastics are produced annually on a global scale. Only a fraction of these plastics are recycled and a much larger amount ends up as waste. Plastics in landfills, in water resources, lakes,rivers, and oceans are a serious issue. Of particular concern are micro-plastics (particles of plastic less than 5 mm in diameter), which can be ingested by marine organisms, endangering their life and leading to various downstream environmental problems. ******The second research project being addressed therefore will focus on the removal of micro-plastics using biosurfactant proteins as ligands. We will for the first time investigate how much micro-plastic is released in the effluent from conventional wastewater treatment plants. We will design strategies for tertiary treatment to investigate the removal of micro-plastics.****** This proposed research will train 5 PhDs, 3 M.E.Sc, 5 undergraduate students over five years of the proposed research. The HQP trained in this proposal will provide needed skills to industry with an understanding of how to manage the significant challenges of today and harness solutions based in Canada but applicable for a global society.