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Effects of Growth Conditions on the Bacterial Conversion of Methane to Lipids

The huge decline in natural gas prices led to an increase in flaring which embodies wasted product, lost energy, lost revenues, and major greenhouse gas emission (GHG). Methane is a major component of natural gas that could be diverted as microbial substrate for the production of valuable products. Methanotrophs are gaining interests due to their ability to utilize CH4 as its sole carbon and energy source to produce a wide variety of bio-products such as lipids, carbohydrates, fuels and power, biomolecules, proteins and renewable chemicals. The lipids derived from the intracellular membrane of methanotrophs are vital precursors for the production of biodiesel and human health supplements. This study aimed to establish the growth conditions of methanotrophs that maximize methane consumption and lipid production. Growth parameters were varied to study the effects of media (nitrate mineral salts (NMS) and synthetic wastewater (SW)), pH (4.0 and 6.8) and CH4 to air ratio (1:1 and 1:4) on the bacterial conversion of methane to lipids. A multi-level categoric design of experiment was employed to verify the most suitable conditions for CH4 consumption and lipid production. Methane consumption was monitored via gas chromatography analysis of the headspace gases. Full length 16S rRNA gene diversity analysis was done to identify the species present in the consortium and to determine the changes in their relative abundance. After 18 days of incubation, results show that the highest CH4 consumption was 6.62% with a lipid yield of 6.93% that can be achieved using SW medium, at pH=6.8, and CH4 to air ratio of 1:1. Thus, this research provides new insights on the potential of natural microbial consortium to convert CH4 into lipids that could address concerns on greenhouse gas emission reduction as well as for value-added resources recovery.