The Effectiveness of Termite Gut Microbes in Boosting Lignin Degradation and Biogas Production from Pulp and Paper Waste (Student Poster #24)

TAV5 is a bacterium strain of the family Opitutaceae from Termite-Associated Verrucomicrobium isolated from the hindgut of Reticulitermes Flavipes, the most common subterranean termite in North America. The genome of TAV5 contains genes coding for enzymes that could structurally modify lignin.
Pulp and paper wastes contains high levels of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin which are recalcitrant to biodegradation due to their structure causing lignin to shield the cellulose and hemicellulose making them inaccessible for degradation. Hard woods have lignin content of 27.6–30.2%, and soft woods have lignin content of 32.4–42.4%. hence, the application of TAV5 for lignin destruction can make cellulose and hemicelluloses accessible for biodegradation.
The goal is to study the breakdown of the high lignin content of pulp and paper waste with TAV5/anaerobic microorganisms (AD). This will investigate the effect of the application of TAV5 on the lignin content in pulp and paper waste in anaerobic conditions for methane generation; to vary the concentration percentages of TAV5 and digester microorganisms to ascertain the percentage ratio for optimum methane production as well as, investigate the pH levels for optimum performance of TAV5 with respect to the quantity of methane produced ranging from pH levels of 7 to 9 in ranges of 0.5.
About 80 125ml bottle reactors will be set up on a lab scale. These will be filled with pulp and paper waste, and AD microorganisms obtained from an anaerobic sludge digester operated at 20oC from Village Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant will be added, as well as TAV5 cells which will be cultured at 20% oxygen at room temperature to achieve the designed ratios at 40oC. Water will then be added to achieve 90% moisture content, and the bottles will be sealed, flushed with nitrogen and incubated at room temperatures for several days until methane production ceases. Periodic measurement of gases produced will be taken using a gas chromatograph to determine methane yield.