Bioreaction engineering to maximize mixed microbial systems that convert wastes into value added

这笔赠款将继续发展申请人在环境生物过程工程方面非常成功的项目，该项目涉及将生物材料和生物催化剂用于有益于环境的过程。 为了拥有一个可持续的未来，加拿大需要使用基于可再生材料的工艺来生产更多的能源和化学品，这些工艺利用了最新的技术进步;加拿大还需要培训能够开发和操作这些工艺的人员。 这一未来的一个重要部分将依赖于利用现代生物技术开发和操作利用生物量的工艺，这些生物量受到絮凝物和/或生物膜中微生物群落的作用。 该项目的长期目标是：A）优化生物固体中生物产品的生产、提取和利用; B）探索额外碳源在增强处理系统鲁棒性和在具有挑战性的环境中的性能方面的作用;以及C）了解藻类-细菌结构（例如膜、絮体）以优化碳封存。 该工作将涉及四名博士参与的五个项目学生和一名博士后研究员和5至10名本科生。 这项工作将采用实验室规模的生物反应器，使用来自操作工业/市政过程的生物固体和废水以及最先进的生物分子方法来探测微生物群落并发现用于工业应用的新型酶。 这项工作将在生物区进行，这是多伦多大学的一个创新的、合作的生物工程研究设施。 对有关学生的培训将使他们能够在生物工程和环境方面的工业或学术界拥有有价值的职业生涯。虽然每个人都有一个单独的项目和背景（例如化学工程师，微生物学家，化学家），但他们都将积极学习从生物分子/微生物水平到工业过程规模的真实的系统中的生物过程工程，每个学生也将发展高水平的批判性思维和沟通/团队技能。

This grant will continue to develop the applicant's highly successful program in Environmental Bioprocess Engineering, which involves using biological materials and biocatalysts for processes that benefit the environment. In order to have a sustainable future, Canada needs to produce more of its energy and chemicals using processes based on renewable materials that utilize the latest advances in technology; Canada also needs to train people that can develop and operate these processes. An essential part of that future will rely on using modern biotechnology to develop and operate processes that employ biomass acted upon by microbial communities in flocs and/or biofilms. The long term objectives of this project are: A) To optimize the production, extraction and utilization of bioproducts from biosolids; B) To explore the role of additional carbon sources in enhancing treatment system robustness and performance in challenging environments; and, C) To understand algal-bacterial structures (e.g. films, flocs) to optimize carbon sequestration. The work will involve five projects that are worked on by four Ph.D. students and one postdoctoral fellow and between 5 and 10 undergraduate students. The work will employ lab-scale bioreactors using biosolids and wastewater from operating industrial/municipal processes as well as state of the art biomolecular methods to probe the microbial community and discover novel enzymes for industrial applications. The work will take place in BioZone, an innovative, collaborative bioengineering research facility at the University of Toronto. The training of the students involved will enable them to have rewarding careers in industry or academia in bioengineering and the environment. Though each person has an individual project and background (e.g. chemical engineer, microbiologist, chemist) all of them will actively learn about bioprocess engineering in real systems from the biomolecular/microbial level through to the industrial process scale and each student will also develop high level critical thinking and communication/team skills.