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Biofilms for Biofuel Production

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Bio-Clean Energy Technologies Volume 2

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Abstract

The syntropic consortium of microorganisms with the self-secreted exopolysaccharide (EPS) layer is usually known as a biofilm. The presence of EPS develops the antibiotic resistivity by inhibiting penetration of the antibiotic through this layer, leading to several negative aspects on the environment as well as the human being. Apart from this negativity, some bacterial biofilm that is found to be beneficial to society can be used in wastewater treatment, in polyethylene degradation, in bioremediation, and also in the food industry. Another positive aspect of biofilm technology is biofuel production which needs to be further explored. The conversion of lignocellulose materials to biofuel through pretreatment, saccharification, and product recovery using current technologies is cost-effective. Biofilm has the potency which can improve the efficiency of the product recovery processes, and also a condensation of hydrolytic enzymes, which are analogous to the cells and present at the biofilm-substrate interface, can increase the reaction rate. Biofilm is a microbial syntropy where multiple species are involved in the conversion of complex substrates and fermentation of both hexose and pentose to hydrolysates which disperse outward. Also, both the bacterial and fungal symbiosis allows simultaneous delignification and saccharification. The intercellular gene and signal exchange between the cells get enhanced due to the microenvironment of the biofilm. The separation of biofuel from its producer gets simpler due to the immobilization property of biofilm, and it assists in the retention of biomass, to continue reaction within the fermenter. Thus, the use of biofilm has the added advantages to biofuel production using solid-state fermentation (SSF). Biofilm technology is capable to spur significant innovations to optimize biofuel production.

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  1. Authors Bandita Dutta, Moupriya Nag, Dibyajit Lahiri have equally contributed to this chapter.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, MaulanaAbulKalam Azad University of Technology, Haringhata, West Bengal, India

    Bandita Dutta, Ankita Dey & Rina Rani Ray

  2. Department of Biotechnology, University of Engineering & Management, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Moupriya Nag & Dibyajit Lahiri

  3. AMH Energy Pvt. Ltd, Kolkata, India

    Sujay Ghosh

  4. Oil & Gas Research Centre, Central Analytical and Applied Research Unit, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

    Sanket Joshi

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  1. Bandita Dutta
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  1. Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Pankaj Chowdhary

  2. Department of Life Science School of Basic Sciences and Research, Sharda University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Soumya Pandit

  3. Department of Biotechnology, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Dubai Campus, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Namita Khanna

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Dutta, B. et al. (2022). Biofilms for Biofuel Production. In: Chowdhary, P., Pandit, S., Khanna, N. (eds) Bio-Clean Energy Technologies Volume 2. Clean Energy Production Technologies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8094-6_13

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