Microbial Culture and Isolation for the Production of Biofuels

A special issue of Fermentation (ISSN 2311-5637). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbial Metabolism, Physiology & Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 3528

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Life Science, School of Advanced Engineering, Kogakuin University, Tokyo, Japan
Interests: biomass; biofuel; microorganisms

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biofuel is a biomass-derived type of energy and is expected to replace conventional energy (such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas). While some biofuel is produced by a physio-chemical reaction, most of it can be produced by microbes. Therefore, the isolation and characterization of microorganisms that produce biofuel or its precursor compounds, as well as the development of microbial and its enzyme technology for efficient biofuel production, received attention from the standpoint of future industrial applications.

The Special Issue on “Microbial Culture and Isolation for the Production of Biofuels” welcomes research articles relevant to technologies used for the microbial production of biofuels (bioethanol and other alcohol, biodiesel, biocrude, and biogas) and the isolation and biochemical/physiological characterization of microorganisms that can be used for future applications as an environmentally friendly technology. Articles for a simple taxonomic or phylogenic studies of microbes are not considered for publication.

Dr. Katsuhiko Fujii
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • biofuel
  • microorganisms
  • biotechnology
  • biomass
  • sustainable society
  • SDG
  • carbon neutrality

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1710 KiB  
Article
Biohydrogen Production under Aerial Conditions by a Nitrogen-Fixing Bacterium Isolated from a Steel Signboard
by Nobuhiro Aburai, Honami Tanaka, Hana Kohira and Tinami Sekine
Fermentation 2024, 10(5), 248; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation10050248 - 10 May 2024
Viewed by 878
Abstract
Hydrogen gas is attractive as a clean fuel source if it can be produced efficiently without relying on fossil fuels. Biohydrogen production using photosynthetic bacteria may enable environmentally friendly hydrogen production but is currently limited by factors such as low oxygen tolerance. In [...] Read more.
Hydrogen gas is attractive as a clean fuel source if it can be produced efficiently without relying on fossil fuels. Biohydrogen production using photosynthetic bacteria may enable environmentally friendly hydrogen production but is currently limited by factors such as low oxygen tolerance. In this study, we isolate a new strain of bacteria that can produce hydrogen under aerial-phase conditions compared with those under liquid-phase conditions in a nitrogen gas or an argon gas atmosphere. Bacterial strains were cultured from scrapings taken from a steel signboard. Investigation of the hydrogen production of the strains under aerial- and liquid-phase conditions and subsequent DNA sequencing led to identification of the bacterium Cereibacter sp. KGU-NF001. Aerial-phase conditions were achieved by filter membranes with the bacterial strains and placing the membranes on medium-soaked cotton wool. The gas atmosphere affected the behavior of the isolated bacterial strains under both aerial- and liquid-phase conditions. Cereibacter sp. KGU-NF001 showed promising oxygen tolerance and was able to maintain hydrogen production of 1.33 mL/mg/d even when the atmosphere contained 12% oxygen. Our findings illustrate that biohydrogen production may be achieved by photosynthetic bacteria under oxygen-containing aerial-phase conditions, indicating a possible pathway to help lower our reliance on fossil fuels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Culture and Isolation for the Production of Biofuels)
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17 pages, 2920 KiB  
Article
Biogas Upgrading by Wild Alkaliphilic Microalgae and the Application Potential of Their Biomass in the Carbon Capture and Utilization Technology
by Yuri Kikuchi, Daichi Kanai, Kenjiro Sugiyama and Katsuhiko Fujii
Fermentation 2024, 10(3), 134; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation10030134 - 28 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1625
Abstract
Although biogas is a renewable energy source alternative to natural gas, it contains approximately 40 vol% CO2 and, hence, a low calorific value. The sequestration of CO2 from biogas is, therefore, essential before its widespread use. As CO2 can be [...] Read more.
Although biogas is a renewable energy source alternative to natural gas, it contains approximately 40 vol% CO2 and, hence, a low calorific value. The sequestration of CO2 from biogas is, therefore, essential before its widespread use. As CO2 can be easily solubilized as carbonate and bicarbonate in alkaline water, in this study, we isolated and characterized alkaliphilic wild microalgae that grow under high-level CO2 conditions and evaluated their application potential in CO2-removal from biogas. For this purpose, freshwater samples were enriched with 10 vol% CO2 and an alkaline culture medium (pH 9.0), wherein almost free CO2 was converted to carbonate and bicarbonate to yield alkaliphilic and high-level CO2-tolerant microalgae. Ten microalgal strains of Micractinium, Chlorella, Scenedesmus/Tetradesmus, or Desmodesmus spp. were isolated, some of which demonstrated good growth even under conditions of >pH 10 and >30 vol% CO2. All algal strains grew well through fixing biogas-derived CO2 in a vial-scale biogas upgrading experiment, which reduced the CO2 level in biogas to an undetectable level. These strains yielded antioxidant carotenoids, including lutein, astaxanthin, zeaxanthin, and β-carotene, particularly rich in lutein (up to 7.3 mg/g dry cells). In addition, these strains contained essential amino acids, accounting for 42.9 mol% of the total amino acids on average, and they were rich in unsaturated fatty acids (comprising 62.2 wt% of total fatty acids). The present study identified strains that can contribute to biogas upgrading technology, and the present findings suggest that their biomass can serve as useful raw material across the food, nutraceutical, and feed industries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Culture and Isolation for the Production of Biofuels)
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