Abstract

Valorisation and utilization of wastes via their bioconversion into valuable products is one of the most distinctive strategies of Bio-economy. Although some wastes might be homogeneous, many others (e.g., municipal waste) present very complex compositions. In this context, one of the processing methods that can be used in biorefineries is the gasification of organic materials to synthesis gas, or syngas, followed by microbial fermentation. Syngas is a gaseous mixture composed mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be fermented by specialized microorganisms. The SYNPOL platform is an integrated European project (www.synpol.org) that integrates biopolymer production through modern processing technologies, with bacterial fermentation of syngas, and the pyrolysis of highly complex biowaste (e.g., municipal, commercial, sludge, agricultural). The R&D activities focus on the integration of innovative physico-chemical, biochemical, downstream and synthetic technologies to produce a wide range of new biopolymers. The integration will engage novel and mutually synergistic production methods as well as the assessment of environmental benefits and drawbacks. SYNPOL´s concept shows the implementation of novel microwave-induced pyrolytic treatments of organic waste together with systems-biology defined highly efficient and physiologically balanced recombinant bacteria. The latter will produce biopolymer building blocks and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) that will serve to synthesize novel bio-based plastic prototypes by chemical and enzymatic catalysis. Rhodospirillum rubrum is a purple non-sulfur bacterium that naturally produces PHA. It is subject of a substantial amount of physiological and genetic analysis within the SYNPOL platform due to its ability to grow under a broad variety of aerobic and anaerobic conditions using fermentation, respiration or photosynthesis for the production of energy. R. rubrum can utilize CO from syngas under anaerobic conditions as a sole carbon and energy source in the presence or absence of light for the synthesis of PHAs.