Solar-driven waste-to-chemical conversion by wastewater-derived semiconductor biohybrids

Shanshan Pi, Wenjun Yang, Wei Feng, Ruijie Yang, Weixiang Chao, Wenbo Cheng, Lei Cui, Zhida Li, Yiliang Lin, Nanqi Ren, Chen Yang, Lu Lu () and Xiang Gao ()
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Shanshan Pi: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
Wenjun Yang: Center for Materials Synthetic Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology of CAS, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Science
Wei Feng: Materdicine Lab, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University
Ruijie Yang: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
Weixiang Chao: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
Wenbo Cheng: CAS-Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lei Cui: Center for Materials Synthetic Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology of CAS, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Science
Zhida Li: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
Yiliang Lin: National University of Singapore
Nanqi Ren: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
Chen Yang: CAS-Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lu Lu: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
Xiang Gao: Center for Materials Synthetic Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology of CAS, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Science

Nature Sustainability, 2023, vol. 6, issue 12, 1673-1684

Abstract: Abstract Semiconductor biohybrids integrating the merits of living cells and semiconductor materials have the potential to shift the current energy-intensive chemical production system to a more sustainable one by offering efficient solar-to-chemical conversion. However, cost-competitive and environmentally friendly scaling-up approaches are still urgently needed. To tackle this challenge, we propose a strategy that co-utilizes pollutants in wastewater to produce semiconductor biohybrids in-situ for scalable solar-to-chemical conversion. Specifically, we introduce an aerobic sulfate reduction pathway into Vibrio natriegens to enable the direct utilization of heavy metal ions (that is, Cd2+), sulfate and organics in wastewater to biosynthesize functional semiconductor nanoparticles in living V. natriegens to assemble semiconductor biohybrids. Meanwhile, a designated biosynthetic pathway is introduced into the biohybrids to enable the production of 2,3-butanediol, a valuable bulk chemical with wide applications, from organics in wastewater. Using the obtained biohybrids, the production of 2,3-butanediol reaches 13.09 g l−1 in a 5-l illuminated fermenter using wastewater as the feedstock, revealing its scalability. Life-cycle assessment shows that this specific biohybrid route has substantial sustainability gain compared with conventional 2,3-butanediol production routes. This work can bring solar-driven biomanufacturing and waste-to-wealth conversion one step forward and pave the way to cleaner production and circular economy.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-023-01233-2

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