Utilization of CO₂ fixating bacterium Actinobacillus succinogenes 130Z for simultaneous biogas upgrading and bio-succinic acid production

Biogas is an attractive renewable energy carrier. However, it contains CO2 which limits certain applications of biogas. Here we report a novel approach for removing CO2 from biogas and capturing it as a biochemical through a biological process. This approach entails converting CO2 into bio-succinic acid using the bacterial strain Actinobacillus succinogenes 130Z, and simultaneously producing high purity CH4 (>95%). Results showed that when pressure during fermentation was increased from 101.325 to 140 kPa, higher CO2 solubility was achieved, thereby positively affecting final succinic acid yield and titre, CO2 consumption rate and CH4 purity. When using biogas as the only CO2 source at 140 kPa, the CO2 consumption rate corresponded to 2.59 L CO2 L-1 d-1 with a final succinic acid titre of 14.4 g L-1. Under this pressure condition the highest succinic acid yield and biogas quality reached corresponded to 0.635 g g-1 and 95.4% (v v-1) CH4 content respectively after 24 hours fermentation. This work represents the first successful attempt to develop a system capable of upgrading biogas to vehicle fuel/gas grid quality and simultaneously produce bio-succinic acid, a valuable building block with large market potential in the near term.