Research
Krithiknath Tirupapuliyur
Food Waste to Fuel: Part 1
Abstract
This research project aims to convert food waste into butanol fuel in the most efficient and most environment-friendly manner. *A separation process will be researched and designed to first separate simple sugars from the food waste using thermophilic fungi. The challenge is to create a process that needs little energy input and produces a limited or no amount of waste and pollutant*. The next portion of this research deals with taking this sugar and converting it into butanol fuel via fermentation. This will be done by genetically modifying the metabolic pathways of, Clostridium beijerinckii, to convert the glucose (sugar) into high yields butanol fuel. The objective here is to perform gene deletion in an attempt to direct the metabolic pathways of the microbe in such a way where it will produce the highest yield of butanol.
*This portion of the Research is done by Eamon Cullinane in his Food Waste to Fuel: Part 2.
Research Question/Significance The question this research seeks to answer is whether gene deletion of the hydrogenase gene in Clostridium beijerinckii can increase the amount of butanol product it yields. The research will have a huge impact on Carnegie Mellon University’s food waste. Currently it gets sent to a company called AgRecycle to be processed into a soil amendment. This research aims to optimally convert the waste into useful butanol fuel. When the process design is completed, the university will be able to scale it up, construct it, and use it to convert their food waste into useful fuel.
Today we face a huge energy crisis with fossil fuels and natural gas running low on supply domestically, causing the United States to import these fuels. In order to become self-sufficient, we need to continue the search for efficient biofuels. This research aims at doing exactly that. Around the world, researchers are genetically modifying E. coli and yeast using DNA from Clostridium
Food Waste to Fuel: Part 1
Abstract
This research project aims to convert food waste into butanol fuel in the most efficient and most environment-friendly manner. *A separation process will be researched and designed to first separate simple sugars from the food waste using thermophilic fungi. The challenge is to create a process that needs little energy input and produces a limited or no amount of waste and pollutant*. The next portion of this research deals with taking this sugar and converting it into butanol fuel via fermentation. This will be done by genetically modifying the metabolic pathways of, Clostridium beijerinckii, to convert the glucose (sugar) into high yields butanol fuel. The objective here is to perform gene deletion in an attempt to direct the metabolic pathways of the microbe in such a way where it will produce the highest yield of butanol.
*This portion of the Research is done by Eamon Cullinane in his Food Waste to Fuel: Part 2.
Research Question/Significance The question this research seeks to answer is whether gene deletion of the hydrogenase gene in Clostridium beijerinckii can increase the amount of butanol product it yields. The research will have a huge impact on Carnegie Mellon University’s food waste. Currently it gets sent to a company called AgRecycle to be processed into a soil amendment. This research aims to optimally convert the waste into useful butanol fuel. When the process design is completed, the university will be able to scale it up, construct it, and use it to convert their food waste into useful fuel.
Today we face a huge energy crisis with fossil fuels and natural gas running low on supply domestically, causing the United States to import these fuels. In order to become self-sufficient, we need to continue the search for efficient biofuels. This research aims at doing exactly that. Around the world, researchers are genetically modifying E. coli and yeast using DNA from Clostridium