Piñero-García, Luis A.

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    Anaerobic bioconversion of collagen to methane
    (2012) Piñero-García, Luis A.; Ríos-Hernández, Luis A.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Ríos Velázquez, Carlos; Montalvo Rodríguez, Rafael; Department of Biology; Calcagno, Bárbara O.
    This thesis reports the use of two anaerobic batch reactors (ABRs) to transform a protein solid waste into a renewable energy source. The “heart” of this type of reactor depends on the microbial community within the reactor, their bioconversion potential, and the operational cost. In this research, we developed two ABRs using highly purified enrichments adapted to the anaerobic collagen digestion process. The first reactor, ABRa, was inoculated with a selected highly purified microbial enrichment with functional roles of collagen degradation, coupled with methane production. The second reactor, ABRb, was inoculated with a mixture of two methanogenic microbial communities; one with the acclimated functional role of collagen degradation, and the other with the role of syntrophic volatile fatty acids (VFAs) degradation. We tested which ABR biotransformed more efficiently the collagen based on methane and VFAs consumption, and by comparing the microbial population by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE). Our results showed that ABRa biotransformed approximately 12% of the collagen into 57% methane while ABRb biotransformed only 4% of the waste into 20% methane. DGGE analysis showed similarities on the diversity of the bacterial population between and inside both of the ABRs on the first 45 days. However, the bacterial population remains 100% homologous, and no differences were detected on the methanogenic population at 90 days. In conclusion, some anaerobic microbial communities have the potential to transform the collagen into biogas. However, using one adapted consortium to transform the protein into methane is more efficient than combining several trophic microbial groups that were acclimated separately from different environments.