RT Journal Article
T1 Enhancing carbon capture and utilization: mixotrophic growth of Clostridium luticellarii using methanol and hydrogen for efficient CO2 reduction
A1 Quinten, Mariën
A1 Regueira López, Alberte
A1 Petrognani, Camille
A1 Scarborough, Matthew
A1 Ganigué, Ramon
K1 Acetogen
K1 Flux balance analysis
K1 Gas fermentation
K1 Chain elongation
K1 Bioproduction
AB Carbon capture and utilization remains a major challenge in mitigating climate change. Carbon dioxide (CO2) fixing microorganisms offer promising routes to convert CO2 emissions into valuable products. Clostridium luti-cellarii is a recently discovered acetogen capable of converting CO2 to acetic, butyric and isobutyric acids using H2 or methanol as electron donors. Both routes can use renewable electricity as primary energy input, but each has its limitations: While H2-based processes suffer from poor gas-to-liquid mass transfer and low product selectivity beyond acetic acid, methanol requires a preliminary energy-intensive catalytic reduction of CO2. This study investigated the growth of C. luticellarii on both substrates to compensate their respective drawbacks.Combining methanol and H2 resulted in mixotrophic growth and enhanced CO2 assimilation up to four-fold compared to conversion of methanol alone, while producing similar product spectra. Thermodynamic pathway analysis suggested that high H2 pressures inhibit the H2-producing formate oxidation, while pathways with alternative electron carriers remain favorable. Subsequently, a metabolic model of the one-carbon catabolism was constructed and used to perform flux balance analysis. This revealed that H2 oxidation during mixotrophic growth augments the intracellular pool of reducing equivalents, reducing the need for methanol oxidation and increasing net CO2 assimilation into products. These findings highlight the potential of combining methanol and H2 as electron donors to improve CO2 conversion efficiency for the sustainable production of butyric and isobutyric acids.
PB Elsevier
SN 0960-8524
YR 2025
FD 2025-12-25
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/45223
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/45223
LA eng
NO Mariën, Q., Regueira, A., Petrognani, C., Scarborough, M.J., & Ganigué, R. (2025). Enhancing carbon capture and utilization: mixotrophic growth of Clostridium luticellarii using methanol and hydrogen for efficient CO2 reduction. Bioresource technology, 444. https://10.1016/j.biortech.2025.133886
NO QM is supported by the Research Foundation of Flanders (Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen, FWO) [grant number 1SC5722N] and the Special Research Fund of Ghent University [BOF23/ CDV/085]. AR. acknowledges the support of the Xunta de Galicia through a postdoctoral fellowship [ED481B-2021-012]. AR. belongs to a Galician Competitive Research Group [GRC ED431C 2021/37], cofounded by ERDF (UE). RG and CP are supported by the Special Research Fund of Ghent University [BOF.BAF.2024.0502.01].
DS Minerva
RD 7 jun 2026