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Phase 4 (2009 Deadline)
Solid Waste Management for Bioenergy Production
William J. Orts, US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
Romana Tabassum, National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
Pakistani Funding (HEC): $257,000
US Funding (Department of State): $200,000
Project Dates: October 1, 2011 - September 30, 2014 (Extended through February 28, 2015)
Project Overview
This multidisciplinary project will develop new technology for converting waste into renewable energy, potentially helping to reduce Pakistan’s reliance on petroleum imports as well as the costs of waste treatment. Researchers from USDA and NIBGE will work together to study ways of producing biomethane gas and ethanol from agricultural biomass, industrial waste (including office waste, newsprint, and packaging), and municipal solid waste (MSW). The US principal investigator Dr. Orts is currently involved in operating a pilot-scale MSW-to-bioenergy conversion facility in California; however, this operation has yet to fully integrate the simultaneous production of ethanol and biomethane that is planned for the current project. This new joint project will also look at how different types of waste pretreatments such as enzymes and autoclaving affect relative yields of ethanol versus biomethane. Furthermore, ideal enzyme mixtures must be developed for the types of comingled waste streams typical in Pakistan. By demonstrating the potential environmental and economic benefits of improved waste processing methods, this team ultimately hopes to transfer the technology developed to the private sector for commercialization.
Quarterly Update
Both teams have constructed anaerobic digestors producing methane and/or electricity (via methane-to-electricity conversion) at a significant pilot scale. A 50m3 digester was commissioned, installed, tested and operated with success in Pakistan. Data from these runs were presented at two meetings: International Conference on Bio-Energy: Bio-Methane as Alternative Fuel & its Conversion into CNG in August in Lahore and at the conference entitled Science, Technology, and Engineering for Development: From Innovation to Implementation in Islamabad. Members of the team were also invited to give presentations at the American Chemical Society Meeting in San Francisco and as a keynote at the BioCycle East Coast Conference in Baltimore.
Collaborative research was helped by the arrival in the United States of Nagina Rafique, a senior graduate student from Pakistan. She continues to make outstanding progress with her USDA collaborator, Dr. Dominic Wong, and discussions are under way to extend her tenure beyond six months so that they can complete a manuscript of cloning their optimal strain for better yield. In addition to Ms. Rafique, four research associates enrolled for PhD are working under this program.
Progress Reports
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2012 Show summary || Hide summary
This project was selected for support as part of the Phase 4 review process, the results of which were announced in September 2010. However, the project remained on hold for a year until funding resources could be secured on both the Pakistani and US sides. Once those resources were in place, the project was launched on the U.S. side as of late October 2011 when Dr. Orts’ lab signed off on the grant agreement and received the Year 1 funds. Of the ten major objectives outlined in the project plan, Dr. Orts reports that work has been initiated on at least seven, with activities being conducted by the PIs on both sides. The USDA lab has assembled and begun utilizing a new set of fermentors that have been established to test the protocols established in this project. Various types of solid waste biomass is being studied, including waste paper, municipal solids waste, food wastes (including sub-par fruits and vegetables), agricultural processing residues, and grass clippings. Research on almond hulls and shells is proving particularly effective. Considering that almonds are a common biomass source for both the United States and Pakistan, it is noteworthy that fermentation of almond shells and hulls is proving to be viable.
During the spring and summer of 2012, a pilot-scale anaerobic digestor to be used by both parties for their joint work in California will be designed and manufactured. Plans are for this system to be ready in the fall of 2012. This will make it possible to carry out larger-scale tests of the viability of bioenergy production from waste sources encountered in both Pakistan and the United States. Dr. Orts and his staff have completed the necessary visa invitation and lab clearance paperwork to host a member of the Pakistani research team in California sometime in 2012, as soon as the visitor’s visa is issued.
In consultation with Dr. Kevin Holtman of the USDA-Albany lab, Dr. Tabassum is revising the final specifications to purchase items needed to construct a key piece of equipment for the project—a 50 cubic meter anaerobic digester. This pilot-scale digester should be installed and optimized during the next six months. During the spring and summer of 2012, her group at NIBGE has initiated studies on using corn stover (leaves and stalks remaining after harvest) as a substrate, although there have been some difficulties in grinding the stover to make a powder suitable for digestion studies. Using lawn grass clippings has proven more fruitful so far. Dr. Tabassum has also consulted with Dr. Charles Lee from the USDA-Albany lab regarding gene sequencing and DNA primer synthesis relevant to the enzyme research aspects of the project, and USDA-Albany staff have prepared and delivered specific DNA primers to the Pakistani side.
Dr. Tabassum is currently working with Dr. Orts on visa arrangements for her student Tanveer Majeed, who will come to the USDA-Albany lab for training later in 2012. In the new few months, the team will continue the enzyme cloning research, which is expected to progress more quickly once the student arrives at the USDA lab. Meantime, the pace of research on anaerobic digestion should also increase once the new pilot-scale digester is up and running at NIBGE.
2013 Show summary || Hide summary
2014 Show summary || Hide summary
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