Solid-Phase Bioreactor for Directed Microbial Culturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for treating biomass with enzymatic digestion are inefficient due to enzyme mixtures not being optimally adapted to target substrates, leading to long treatment times and suboptimal performance, and require additional cofactors that are often unknown, resulting in non-directed and random enzyme and metabolite production.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a preculture of mixed organisms adapted to solid or liquid substrates, followed by cultivation in a solid-phase bioreactor with target substrates under controlled selection pressure, inducing enzyme and metabolite production optimized for specific substrates, using a modular screw reactor with adjustable parameters like pH, moisture, and inhibitor addition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional enzyme mixtures are used for biomass treatment, then the process can proceed with standard equipment, but the treatment time is very long and performance is suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-adapting microorganisms to specific target substrates through preculture on identical or similar substrates before the actual treatment process. This preliminary adaptation ensures that the enzyme mixtures produced are optimally suited for the intended substrate, dramatically reducing treatment time and improving efficiency compared to using standard enzyme mixtures without substrate-specific adaptation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs parameter changes by systematically optimizing culturing conditions including temperature, pH, moisture content, and aeration rates during the adaptation phase. These parameter adjustments create optimal conditions for producing enzyme mixtures specifically tailored to the target substrate, thereby increasing treatment speed and reducing the time required for effective biomass degradation.
2Device complexity
If pure cultures are used for enzyme production, then the cultivation process is simple, but the enzyme mixture lacks the complexity needed for optimal substrate degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by using mixed microbial cultures that can produce a broad spectrum of enzymes with diverse functions. The mixed culture system maintains relative simplicity in cultivation while generating enzyme mixtures containing cellulases, hemicellulases, ligninases, and other degradative enzymes that work synergistically to comprehensively degrade complex biomass substrates, achieving both simplicity and versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite materials by creating composite enzyme mixtures from multiple microbial species cultured together. These composite enzyme systems combine different enzymatic activities and mechanisms from various organisms, producing a synergistic effect that enhances overall substrate degradation capability while maintaining manageable cultivation complexity through unified culture conditions.
3Productivity
If selection pressure is applied to microorganism populations, then enzyme production can be optimized, but the culturing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by implementing controlled selection pressure through systematic adjustment of culturing parameters such as substrate composition, nutrient availability, pH, temperature, and aeration. These parameter modifications create optimal conditions that naturally select for high enzyme-producing strains while maintaining relative process simplicity, achieving high enzyme yields without requiring complex intervention systems.
4Ease of manufacture
If enzyme mixtures are produced without substrate-specific induction, then the production process is straightforward, but the enzyme mixture is not optimally adapted to the target substrate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing substrate-specific induction during the preculture phase before the main production phase. The microorganisms are pre-exposed to the target substrate or similar inducers, which triggers the expression of substrate-specific enzymes. This preliminary induction step remains relatively simple to implement while dramatically improving enzyme mixture performance and substrate-specific activity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly increases enzyme yield, reduces cultivation time, and produces enzyme and metabolite mixtures optimally adapted for substrate degradation, enabling efficient saccharification of polysaccharides and polymers, and allows for controlled enzyme conservation and downstream processing.
Implementation Method 1
enzymatic digestion... enzyme mixtures... for the saccharification of all kinds of natural polysaccharide substrates
Implementation Method 2
solid-phase culturing of stable microbial mixed populations for the continuous preparation of defined enzyme and metabolite mixtures... contacting it in a solid-phase bioreactor
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a method for directed selective solid-phase culturing of stable microbial mixed populations for the continuous preparation of defined enzyme and metabolite mixtures, enzyme and metabolite materials obtained by such method and suitable devices therefore.