Gas fermentation of C1 feedstocks: commercialization status and future prospects

Abstract

The increasing emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and carbon oxide (collectively referred as C1 compounds) are likely to configure a major contribution to global warming and other environmental issues. The implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered a crucial strategy to prevent global warming, but the overall costs of currently available CCS technologies are still prohibitive for its large-scale deployment. Using microorganisms capable of assimilating C1 compounds for producing value-added products could be an important driver for mitigating emissions and minimizing their deleterious consequences, while simultaneously deriving additional economic benefits from these compounds. This review summarizes the main microorganisms and metabolic routes being investigated, with special focus on both the products targeted and the current industrial initiatives. There are a number of companies investing in these routes and in some instances commercial deployment was identified. Despite the variety of commercially-appealing products, genetic manipulation of microorganisms to maximize yields and the design of technologies capable of efficiently using the gaseous feedstocks are major challenges yet to be overcome to fully unlock the potential of C1 microbiological routes. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.