Karthikeyan, Obulisamy Parthiba, Nadarajan, Saravanan, Cirés, Samuel, Alvarez-Roa, Carlos, Razaghi, Ali, Chidambarampadmavathy, Karthigeyan, Velu, Chinnathambi, Subashchandrabose, Gobalakrishnan, and Heimann, Kirsten (2017) Culture scale-up and immobilisation of a mixed methanotrophic consortium for methane remediation in pilot-scale bio-filters. Environmental Technology, 38 (4). pp. 474-482.

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Abstract

Robust methanotrophic consortia for methane (CH4) remediation and by-product development are presently not readily available for industrial use. In this study, a mixed methanotrophic consortium (MMC), sequentially enriched from a marine sediment, was assessed for CH4 removal efficiency and potential biomass-generated by-product development. Suitable packing material for bio-filters to support MMC biofilm establishment and growth was also evaluated. The enriched MMC removed ∼7–13% CH4 under a very high gas flow rate (2.5 L min−1; 20–25% CH4) in continuous-stirred tank reactors (∼10 L working volume) and the biomass contained long-chain fatty acids (i.e. C16 and C18). Cultivation of the MMC on plastic bio-balls abated ∼95–97% CH4 in pilot-scale non-sterile outdoor-operated bio-filters (0.1 L min−1; 1% CH4). Contamination by cyanobacteria had beneficial effects on treating low-level CH4, by providing additional oxygen for methane oxidation by MMC, suggesting that the co-cultivation of MMC with cyanobacterial mats does not interfere with and may actually be beneficial for remediation of CH4 and CO2 at industrial scale.

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