Research
· Research Highlights
- Low-carbon circular economy in environment, energy, and climate change nexus
- Green hydrogen production
- Renewable natural gas
- Biodegradable plastic production
- Carbon capture & utilization (CCU)
- Extracellular electron transfer (EET) - Wire bacteria
- Nutrient Recovery
1. Green hydrogen production
Green hydrogen production and supply are essential for realizing a sustainable hydrogen economy. Our center has developed biohydrogen production technologies from biomass and organic waste using advanced electro-fermentation and microbial electrochemical cells.
2.Renewable natural gas
The renewable natural gas production technology is one of the attractive resource recovery methods based on anaerobic digestion by treating organic biomass from waste & wastewater. The produced RNG is meaningful in that it can substitute the use of fossil fuels and reduce energy consumption in the producing process. This can reduce carbon emissions enabling carbon-neutral and sustainable development.
3.Nutrients Recovery
The nutrients recovery is one of the remaining problems in the waste & wastewater treatment. This high concentration of nutrients such as N, P could be an attractive nutrient source for agricultural use. Nutrient recovery from remaining nutrients in treated waste and wastewater could be a resolution to energy and resource poverty, because the nutrient resource is finite and consumes significant energy to make the product for human use.
4. Biodegradable plastic production
Plastic waste becomes one of the most urgent global issues to be addressed including Korea. We need a solution to resolve plastic waste, such as "zero plastic waste". Our center has developed an innovative biotechnology upcycling food and organic waste into polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHAs), which enables us to tackle plastic and organic waste simultaneously. This circular bioeconomy technology will promote a carbon-neutral, sustainable Korea.
5.Extracellular electron transfer(EET)
EET is an interesting respiring process for microorganisms to transport electrons out of cells to complete their catabolism and energy generation. Our center has worked on EET for over 15 years and engineered EET for (1) green hydrogen, (2) bioenergy and biochemicals, and (3) low-cost biosensors.