Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and about 20% of the emissions caused by humans originatefrom waste, such as landfills. Landfills containing organic matter produce methane-rich landfill gas over a long period of time, up to a hundred years. This landfill gas can be captured and channeled into electricity and heat when the methane concentration is above 50%, anything below that will be flared off or emitted to the atmosphere. Landfill gas with lower methane concentrations, can potentially be used to recycle methane into sustainable, biodegradable plastics or more specifically polyhydroxybutyrates (PHBs) with the use of methanotrophic microorganisms.
From a Dutch landfill site new methanotrophic bacteria were isolated by HAN BioCentre. These bacteria could be cultivated in a lab scale bioreactor using landfill gas as their main carbon source. The goal of this proof of principle study is to further develop this biofilter technology to reduce and use methane emissions for sustainable bioplastic production.
