YSU BIOCHEMISTS STUDY THE PROCESSING OF ORGANIC WASTE AND TURNING THEM INTO HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTS

It was presented by the Chair of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology of YSU Faculty of Biology.

Anna Poladyan, Head of the Chair of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology at YSU Faculty of Biology, told us that currently there is a great interest in the processing of organic waste and the production of biofuels and bio-electricity as high-quality products.

Currently, the valorization of organic wastes has attracted increasing interest, with biogas, hydrogen, ethanol, etc. as final products. However, the lack of information about key biochemical and bioenergetic processes during waste bioconversion limits the possibilities of production enhancement.

Therefore, this project aims to understand the role of key bioenergetic enzymes and to examine the state-of-the-art redox regulation of biochemical pathways for enhanced biomass and bioenergy production during the conversion of organic wastes. During the project, the pretreatment of dairy (cheese and curds production) industrial or agricultural organic wastes, such as roasted coffee and brewery spent grains and their further utilization by Escherichia coli and Clostridiums sp. will be done.

Bacterial biomass, bioenergy (biohydrogen, bioethanol or biobutanol), and other fermentation products will be determined. The role of oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) for bacterial biomass formation and biochemical processes on wastes will be considered.

Moreover, identification of activities and redox regulation of some key enzymes responsible for the enhanced formation of products of interest mentioned during utilization of the pretreated organic wastes will be conducted.