Bacterial biofilms as sustainable catalytic materials studied in customized microfluidic bioanalytical flow-cells

绿色化学的12项原则为化学工业向可持续发展模式的转变提供了路线图。催化是绿色化学倡议的主要支柱之一，可重复使用的材料可加快反应时间，同时减少废物和反应能量需求。然而，由于原材料价格的波动，无机催化剂的生产面临挑战。同样，不可持续的原材料开采方法也会降低其总体可持续性。另一种方法可以在活细菌中找到，这些生物催化剂已经驱动了地球数十亿年的地球化学，并且已经被人类用于生产食品和饮料数百年。最近，所谓的“全细胞催化”由于其对可持续化学的适用性而成为一个活跃的研究领域。细菌具有低成本合成精细化学品的潜力，包括手性分子和药物，天然食品添加剂，并在生物修复和能源方面有应用。特别是细菌生物膜是有前途的，因为它们可以自我生产;它们的保护性细胞外聚合物基质可以减轻与恶劣化学环境相关的挑战;它们具有表面附着的偏好，消除了与产物/催化剂分离相关的反应步骤;并且它们适用于有效的流动反应器设置。 经过六年的开发，最先进的微流体工具和方法来控制细菌生物膜，该提案提出了一个大胆的研究和培训计划，将生物膜开发成提议驱动的生物催化材料。我们将努力创造更好地研究生物催化反应所需的分析工具，并将其用于生物能源应用的开发。我们的计划概述了三个主题，（1）细菌催化反应动力学的研究（2）应用于更好地执行微生物燃料电池，和（3）新的表征工具，为下一阶段的生物催化发展。这是一个高度多学科的研究计划，涉及化学，微生物学，物理学和工程学的概念。微流体是该计划的一个恒定主题，因为它具有控制和利用活生物膜作为可持续生物材料的潜力的独特能力。培训环境将汇集来自广泛背景的高素质人员，他们将在拉瓦尔大学不断增长的生物分析研究人员网络中的最先进的CFI资助实验室中共同工作。 该研究计划的成功实施将促进加拿大在催化，微流体和生命科学分析等关键领域的专业知识和经济，全球价值超过1000亿美元。此外，它解决了日益增长的社会意识和需求，需要实施新的可持续技术，以迅速减少污染和废物对环境的影响。

The 12 principles of green chemistry offer a roadmap to move chemical industry to a sustainable paradigm. Catalysis is one of the major pillars of the green chemistry initiative, whereby reusable materials speed up reaction times, while reducing waste and reaction energy requirements. However, production of inorganic catalysts faces challenges due to volatility in raw material prices. As well, the unsustainable methods for raw material extraction can reduce their overall sustainability. Another approach can be found in living bacteria, the same biological catalysts that have driven Earth's geochemistry for billions of years and which have been used by humanity for centuries for production of food and beverages. Recently, so-called "whole-cell catalysis" has become an active area of research due its suitability for sustainable chemistry. Bacteria hold the potential for low-cost synthesis of fine chemicals, including chiral molecules and pharmaceuticals, natural food additives, and have applications in bioremediation and energy. In particular bacterial biofilms are promising because they can self-produce; their protective extracellular polymeric matrix can mitigate challenges related to harsh chemical environments; they have a preference for surface attachment, eliminating reaction steps associated with product/catalyst separation; and they are suitable for efficient flow reactor setups. After six years developing state-of-the-art microfluidic tools and methods to control bacterial biofilms, this proposal lays out a bold research and training plan to develop biofilms into propose-driven biocatalytic materials. We will direct our efforts to create the analytical tools required to better study biocatalytic reactions and utilize them in the development of applications in bioenergy. Our plan is outlined in three themes, (1) studies of bacterial catalysis reaction kinetics (2) applications to better performing microbial fuel cells, and (3) new characterization tools for next-stage biocatalysis development. This is a highly multidisciplinary research program, involving concepts in chemistry, microbiology, physics and engineering. Microfluidics is a constant theme in this program due to its unique ability to control and harness the potential of living biofilms as sustainable biomaterials. The training environment will bring together highly qualified personnel from a broad background where they will work together in a state-of-the-art CFI-funded laboratories amongst a growing network of bioanalytical researchers at Laval University. The successful implementation of this research program will boost Canadian expertise and the economy in key areas related to catalysis, microfluidics, and life-science analytics worth over $100B worldwide. Moreover, it addresses growing social awareness-and demand-around the need to implement new sustainable technology to rapidly reduce the environmental impact of pollution and waste.