Continuous extraction and concentration of secreted metabolites from engineered microbes using membrane technology

Abstract

Microalgal cultivation in photobioreactors and membrane separations are both considered sustainable processes. Here we explore their synergistic combination to extract and concentrate a heterologous sesquiterpenoid produced by engineered green algal...

Biomass generation and heterologous isoprenoid milking from engineered microalgae grown in anaerobic membrane bioreactor effluent

“…UVM4 has previously been genetically and metabolically modified to produce the heterologous plant sesquiterpenoid patchouli alcohol, “patchoulol” (Abdallah et al, 2022; Lauersen et al, 2016). Heterologous terpenoid products can be collected during cultivation of microbial cultures using a two-phase culture-solvent system (Beekwilder et al, 2014; Lauersen, 2019; Overmans et al, 2022). The hydrophobic terpenoid products accumulate in biocompatible solvents as the products are more favored to partition into the solvents than into the cells or culture medium (Gruchattka and Kayser, 2015).…”

“…The milking of a terpenoid co-product during nutrient removal could be considered a highly promising way to increase the economics of lost resources in WWs. Solvent milking can be cyclic, wherein the extraction of the patchoulol from the solvent can be performed and the solvent returned to culture in low OPEX bio-processes (Overmans et al, 2022). Here, we chose the sesquiterpenoid patchoulol as an exemplary product of the engineered algae due to the availability of strains.…”

“…Engineering efforts have been facilitated by the domestication of this alga through several rounds of mutation and transformation (Neupert et al, 2020, 2009) while advances in synthetic transgene design have enabled robust expression of heterologous pathways in this alga (Baier et al, 2020, 2018). The value of engineered algae is enhanced when the recombinant products can be harvested separately from the algal biomass using solvent-culture two-phase systems in a process called ‘microbial milking’ (Overmans et al, 2022; Overmans and Lauersen, 2022).…”

Inline purification in continuous flow synthesis – opportunities and challenges

“…Most of the examples involve the separation of an organic phase from an aqueous one. However, two immiscible organic phases might be separated, like in the case of methanol and dodecane [49]. Solvent properties such as viscosity, interfacial tension, or salt concentrations in case of aqueous mixtures are some factors to consider [50].…”

Ohmic heating-assisted regioselective sulfonation of aniline: synthesis of sulfanilic acid

“…In the last decade, efficient and greener reaction methodologies as well as novel or improved reactors have emerged as hot topics in chemical synthesis, like organic electrosynthesis, 13 continuous-flow systems such as tubular or packed bed reactors, 14 synergistic combinations of photobioreactors with membrane separation technologies, 15 and automated microfluidic systems, 16 towards the enhancement of the sustainability of synthetic processes. Since 2013, our group 17,18 has been using ohmic heating to facilitate and improve chemical reactions, following the increasing demand for production intensification and environmental clean technologies and processes.…”