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. 2023 Jul;46(7):1011-1020.
doi: 10.1007/s00449-023-02880-7. Epub 2023 May 11.

Developing rumen mimicry process for biological ammonia synthesis

Adewale Adeniyi  1 , Ibrahim Bello  2 , Taofeek Mukaila  1 , Ewumbua Monono  2 , Ademola Hammed  3
Affiliations

Developing rumen mimicry process for biological ammonia synthesis

Adewale Adeniyi et al. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng. 2023 Jul.

Abstract

The ruminant rumen houses hyper-ammonia-producing bacteria (HAB) that produce ammonia with minimal energy use. Here we developed a mimicry process to produce bio-ammonia, a solution of ammonia and ammonium. The rumen microbes were used to ferment soybean (SYB), soybean protein isolate (SPI), and pepsin-hydrolysate (HP) for bio-ammonia production. The maximum bio-ammonia produced from SYB, SPI, and HP were 0.65, 1.2, and 1.1 g/L, respectively. The presence of non-protein in SYB hindered bio-ammonia production and the processing of SYB to SPI and HP significantly (p < 0.05) increased bio-ammonia production. HP was converted to bio-ammonia quicker than SPI suggesting that enzymatic hydrolysis increases bioprocessing efficiency. Metagenomic analysis of a sample culture revealed that the HAB population is predominantly Klebsiella quasivariicola (73%), Escherichia coli (6%), and Enterobacter cloacae (6%). The bioprocessing steps developed would enable industrial ammonia production to achieve a low CO2 footprint.

Keywords: Bio-ammonia; Fermentation; Hyper-ammonia-producing bacteria; Protein biomass; Soybean processing.

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