The Project BioRECO2VER

Project summary

BioRECO₂VER aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility of more energy efficient and sustainable non-photosynthetic biotechnological processes for the capture and conversion of CO₂ from industrial point sources like refineries and cement production plants into valuable platform chemicals, i.e. isobutene and lactate.

To overcome several of the existing technical and economic barriers for CO₂ conversion by industrial biotechnology, BioRECO₂VER will focus on minimizing gas pre-treatment costs, maximizing gas transfer in bioreactors, preventing product inhibition, minimizing product recovery costs, reducing footprint and improving scalability.

To this end, a hybrid enzymatic process will be investigated for CO₂ capture from industrial point sources and conversion of captured CO₂ into the targeted end-products will be realized through three different proprietary microbial platforms which are representative of a much wider range of products and applications. Bioprocess development and optimization will occur along two lines: fermentation and bio-electrochemical systems.

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Objectives

BioRECO₂VER will reach this through the following specific objectives:

Development and application of robust enzymes for efficient CO₂capture from industrial point sources by combining enzymatic absorption with ionic liquid-amine blends
Development of three different microbial platforms for CO₂ conversion into platform chemicals using carbon-free energy supply
Development of novel fermenter designs to increase fermentation efficiency and optimize process conditions
Development of bioelectrochemical systems that use in situ generated H₂ and renewable electricity as the energy source
Validation of the most promising isobutene and lactate production route at technology readiness level 5 on real off gases
Modelling and optimization of the modular technology train
Provide sustainability assessment and proof of socio-economic and industrial feasibility

Expected impacts

The BioRECO₂VER project will provide beneficial impacts on the efficient microbial production of CO₂-based valuable platform chemicals from industrial off-gases.

This addresses specifically, the:

Creation of an enzymatic CO₂ capture process that will reduce energy and cost, increase process impurity resistance and subsequently yield a concentrated gas stream of at least 95% CO₂
Reduction in downstream processing efforts through production of a gaseous molecule or coupling with separation technology for in situ product recovery (reduction in energy consumption)
Establishment of an optimized modular technology train from CO₂ source to final marketable products (deviation of model with respect to experimental results <15%, process improvement through optimized set of operation and design parameters)
More favourable sustainability assessment of the microbial CO₂ conversion (lower carbon footprint compared to gas fermentation at non-optimized conditions, processes relevant for >5% of industrial CO₂ emissions in Europe)
Proof of socio-economic and industrial feasibility (equivalent variable costs compared to conventional process and replication of the process for at least 2 other major industrial CO₂ emitters).

1st BES platform

Follow us on a tour through the world's 1st fully automated bio-electrochemical platform for carbon-neutral production from carbon dioxide and renewable energy. In contrast to prior attempts, this platform uses solely carbon-dioxide as a source. This BioRECO₂VER prototype platform is located at the Scientific Parc of the University of Girona, Spain.