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Sorption of Methane by Gungi: A Study to Detect Methane Capture by Biofilter Fungi

Undergraduate #65
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Climate Change

Tamirat Ali - Minneapolis Community and Technical College
Co-Author(s): Jonathan Schilling and Feng Jin Liew, University of Minnesota, MN



Emission of methane (CH4), a hydrophobic volatile organic compound, makes a significant contribution to climate change. Approximately, one third of the total U.S anthrogenic CH4 emission comes from livestock operations. To mitigate CH4 emissions, biofiltration, a technique that uses microorganisms to degrade and capture malodorous volatile compounds, has been effectively used. This method is believed to have the potential to reduce both odors and greenhouse gas emissions, simultaneously. Research have shown that biofilters with higher fungal biomass improve the capture of hydrophobic gases, thus improving performance. This is due to the unique nature of fungi, and I hypothesized that fungi could improve capture of CH4 and enhance the biofiltration process, but that this enhancement would vary among strains. To test this, I tested different isolates of fungi using a gas-capture microcosm set-up to detect and quantify CH4 capture by different strains of fungi, primarily wood-degrading strains with histories of application in bioremediation. Results showed that CH4 was effectively captured by the fungi, but as a function of both fungal strain and inlet CH4 concentrations. These results demonstrate the potential for utilizing fungi in biofiltration systems treating high, rather than low, concentrations of CH4 but that optimization in a certain application would also involve strain selection

Funder Acknowledgement(s): Notrhstart STEM Alliance; MNDrive

Faculty Advisor: Jonathan Schilling, schillin@umn.edu

Role: I got involved in almost every step of the research: 1) I, using an aseptic technique, inoculated and grew the different strains of fungi that were studied; 2) Introduced methane gas in fungi containing vials; 3) Run gas chromatography to detect methane concetration; 4) Analyzed data

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

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