Turning Waste into Green Energy: DKK 50 Million for Microbe Research

Already today, microbes play a key role in transforming organic waste into biogas, but large amounts of potential energy are still lost in the residual material.

A new research project now aims to change that. With a grant of DKK 50 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Professor Amelia Elena Rotaru from the Department of Biology has been given the opportunity to develop a new technology designed to enable microorganisms to make better use of organic waste and convert it into green energy.

The project name is Microbial Electrochemical Methanation Initiative—Prometheus. Its distinctive approach is to investigate how certain microbial communities can be connected to electrodes and thereby improve the production of biomethane, a green alternative to natural gas.

Also good for the aquatic environments

The project addresses a key challenge in renewable energy: how to recover more energy from the organic waste that society already produces. Today, anaerobic (i.e. oxygen-free) digestion is widely used to produce biogas, but a large proportion of the methane potential in complex organic material is still left behind.

“When this energy is not recovered, we lose valuable green energy. In addition, there is the cost that the remaining organic waste can contribute to environmental problems such as eutrophication of aquatic environments—that is, an excess of nutrients entering lakes and coastal waters,” says Amelia‑Elena Rotaru.

At the heart of the project is the development of a new bioelectrochemical strategy in which electrode-associated microbial communities are evolved to convert waste carbon more efficiently into premium-grade biomethane.

Interdisciplinary and international collaboration

The project brings together researchers from a wide range of institutions and disciplines, spanning microbiology, systems biology, adaptive evolution of microbiomes, reactor engineering, modelling and sustainability and techno-economic assessment to build the basis for a next generation of anaerobic digestion technology.

Contribution institutions and researchers are:

• DTU (BRIGHT: Biotechnology Research Institute for the Green Transition): Professor Jochen Förster and research group leader Emre Ozdemir.
• Aarhus University (CORC and Biology): Professors Largus Angenent and Lars Ditlev Mørck Ottosen, as well as Associate Professor Niculina Musat.
• Toulouse Biotechnology Institute: Professor Lorie Hamelin.
• Wageningen University: Professor Diana de Sousa.
• University of Southern Denmark: Professor Jacek Fiotowski from the Mads Clausen Institute. PhD Satoshi Kawaichi and Assistant Professors Konstantinos Anestis and Rhitu Kotoky from the Department of Biology.
• Mærsk Mc‑Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping: Kiki Larsen, Interim Head of Strategy & Portfolio.