The Role of EPS during Exposure to Inhibitors in AD System

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Anaerobic Digestion (AD) of organic wastes poses an effective carbon-neutral energy and waste management procedure. One drawback of using organic wastes is the increased entry of potentially problematic compounds (PTCs) into biogas reactors. To some extent, microorganisms can overcome unfavourable conditions by e.g., excreting extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) to form biofilms, flocs and granules. However, EPS matrices within biofilms and granules are still marginally understood and requirements for EPS secretion and mechanisms need further investigations.

The aim is to better understand the formation and role of EPS during AD when microorganisms are exposed to certain PTCs and to what extent multi-cell structures can counteract impairments during biogas production.

The project will apply a mixture of techniques for anaerobic cultivation, biochemical analyses, molecular biological methods as well as single-cell methods / chemical imaging techniques.

The project will focus on EPS quality, amount, and its distribution within microbial aggregates as well as on microbial composition during AD of PTCs, on microorganisms involved in EPS secretion and on their activated biochemical pathways and metabolites. This comprehensive approach has not been performed before.