Home

Methane is used primarily to provide energy or heat via combustion. A lot of methane is produced from anthropogenic sources, which constitutes 60% of annual global emissions. Increased emissions have negative consequences as methane is a greenhouse gas with approximately 80 times the impact of carbon dioxide. However, methane represents also an enormous resource and can be treated as a platform chemical for conversion into a range of higher value products. This is especially encouraging when methane from sustainable sources like landfills or anaerobic digesters are used or otherwise sources that are not economical to process for conventional heating. These economic incentives and the changing attitude towards sustainable production of both fine and commodity chemicals results in the growing interest in the biological conversion of methane. Potentially, polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) copolymers with desirable properties (such as PHBV copolymer) could be produced from methane as a feedstock. PHA copolymers are recognised as excellent candidates to replace conventional petroleum-derived polymers. The general aim of the project is evaluate the possibility of synthesizing PHA copolymers from methane as a primary substrate via utilization of mixed microbial. Moreover, the objective is to improve knowledge on symbiotic interactions within methanotrophic consortia and investigate underlying mechanisms in PHB synthesis.