Freya Mosbæk Email & Phone Number

Northern Region, Denmark

Civilingeniør - Aalborg Forsyning Planlægning : Myndighedssamarbejde : ProjektledelseKloakanlægRegnvandshåndteringKlimatilpasning

Section Of Biotechnology | Center For Microbial Communities

ABSTRACTContinuous economic and environmental concerns faced by farmers and governments have recently increased the interest for waste processing and the use of for example livestock manure as a renewable energy source.The major products of biogas are combustible methane (55-65%) and non-combustible carbon dioxide (35-45%). Optimizing biogas yield and biogas upgrading are of great interest for a higher energy gain.Biogas production occurs anaerobically overall explained by four… Show more ABSTRACTContinuous economic and environmental concerns faced by farmers and governments have recently increased the interest for waste processing and the use of for example livestock manure as a renewable energy source.The major products of biogas are combustible methane (55-65%) and non-combustible carbon dioxide (35-45%). Optimizing biogas yield and biogas upgrading are of great interest for a higher energy gain.Biogas production occurs anaerobically overall explained by four processes, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis. These processes are collectively known as anaerobic digestion (AD) and are carried out by a complex highly specialized microbial community composed of hydrolyzing and fermenting Bacteria and methanogenic Archaea. Thus, the microbial community are directly responsible for the production of biogas.For this reason insight into the microbial community, identification of key microorganisms and their function are of great relevance for optimizing the AD process and energy yield. The aim of my PhD project was to obtain a better knowledge and understanding of the AD process by investigation of the microbial community composition.Several molecular biological methods were applied in order to provide knowledge on distribution and activity of fermentative and methanogenic microorganisms and to correlate the microbial community to physical plant parameters.In conclusion, the combined results of my PhD project show that diversity studies are important for knowing “who” are present in anaerobic digesters, while proteomics has been shown to greatly facilitate to characterize the function and linking this with phylogeny i.e. “what are they doing”. In this PhD, the first study applying protein-SIP for analysis of complex biogas samples was presented showing a powerful and promising method for identifying key microorganisms utilizing specific pathways. Show less

Msc, Biotechnology

Bachelor, Science In Engineering (Biotechnology, Chemistry And Environmental Engineering)

High School, Mathematics, Biology