Methane Biocatalysis: Paving the Way to Sustainability

Description

This book provides in-depth insights into the most recent developments in different areas of microbial methane and methanol utilization, including novel fundamental discoveries in genomics and physiology, innovative strategies for metabolic engineering and new synthetic approaches for generation of feedstocks, chemicals and fuels from methane, and finally economics and the implementation of industrial biocatalysis using methane consuming bacteria. Methane, as natural gas or biogas, penetrates every area of human activity, from households to large industries and is often promoted as the cleanest fuel. However, one should not forget that this bundle of energy, carbon, and hydrogen comes with an exceptionally large environmental footprint. To meet goals of long-term sustainability and human well-being, all areas of energy, chemicals, agriculture, waste-management industries must go beyond short-term economic considerations and target both large and small methane emissions. The search for new environment-friendly approaches for methane capture and valorization is an ongoing journey. While it is not yet apparent which innovation might represent the best solution, it is evident that methane biocatalysis is one of the most promising paths. Microbes are gatekeepers of fugitive methane in Nature. Methane-consuming microbes are typically small in number but exceptionally big in their impact on the natural carbon cycle. They control and often completely eliminate methane emission from a variety of biological and geothermal sources. The tremendous potential of these microbial systems, is only now being implemented in human-made systems. The book addresses professors, researchers and graduate students from both academia and industry working in microbial biotechnology, molecular biology and chemical engineering. Front Matter ....Pages i-vi Methanotrophy: An Evolving Field (Ludmila Chistoserdova)....Pages 1-15 Diversity and Phylogeny of Described Aerobic Methanotrophs (Svetlana N. Dedysh, Claudia Knief)....Pages 17-42 Verrucomicrobial Methanotrophs (Huub J. M. Op den Camp, Sepehr S. Mohammadi, Arjan Pol, Peter F. Dunfield)....Pages 43-55 Proteobacterial Methanotrophs, Methylotrophs, and Nitrogen (Lisa Y. Stein)....Pages 57-66 Metals in Methanotrophy (Norma Cecilia Martinez-Gomez, Elizabeth Skovran)....Pages 67-82 Pyrophosphate-Dependent Enzymes in Methanotrophs: New Findings and Views (Valentina N. Khmelenina, Olga N. Rozova, Ilya R. Akberdin, Marina G. Kalyuzhnaya, Yuri A. Trotsenko)....Pages 83-98 Systems Biology and Metabolic Modeling of C1-Metabolism (Ilya R. Akberdin, Merlin Thompson, Marina G. Kalyuzhnaya)....Pages 99-115 Metabolic Engineering of Methanotrophic Bacteria for Industrial Biomanufacturing (Calvin A. Henard, Michael T. Guarnieri)....Pages 117-132 Synthetic Methylotrophy: Past, Present, and Future (Stephanie Heux, Trygve Brautaset, Julia A. Vorholt, Volker F. Wendisch, Jean Charles Portais)....Pages 133-151 Engineering Soluble Methane Monooxygenase for Biocatalysis (Thomas J. Smith, Tim Nichol)....Pages 153-168 Methanol Biosynthesis Using Methanotrophs (Toshiaki Kamachi, Ichiro Okura)....Pages 169-182 The Biochemistry and Physiology of Respiratory-Driven Reversed Methanogenesis (Hadi Nazem-Bokaee, Zhen Yan, Costas D. Maranas, James G. Ferry)....Pages 183-197 Methylotrophic Cell Factory as a Feasible Route for Production of High-Value Chemicals from Methanol (Lanyu Cui, Chong Zhang, Xin-Hui Xing)....Pages 199-211 Biogas, Bioreactors and Bacterial Methane Oxidation (Ilka Madeleine Mühlemeier, Robert Speight, Peter James Strong)....Pages 213-235 Mixed Methanotrophic Consortium for Applications in Environmental Bioengineering and Biocatalysis (Hao Jiang, Xin-Hui Xing)....Pages 237-251 Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Methane Biocatalysis: Key Considerations and Potential Impacts (Robert M. Handler, David R. Shonnard)....Pages 253-270 Cracking “Economies of Scale”: Biomanufacturing on Methane-Rich Feedstock (Anna M. Crumbley, Ramon Gonzalez)....Pages 271-292 Methanotrophy Goes Commercial: Challenges, Opportunities, and Brief History (Carla Risso, Swati Choudhary, Arild Johannessen, Joshua Silverman)....Pages 293-298 Commercializing Innovative Technology (Bryan Yeh)....Pages 299-312