In situ carbon dioxide capture to co-produce 1,3-propanediol, biohydrogen and micro-nano calcium carbonate from crude glycerol by Clostridium butyricum

BACKGROUND: Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emission has become a global hot topic. Although biotechnology is considered as an environmentally friendly method to produce chemicals, almost all biochemicals face carbon dioxide emission from inevitable respiration and energy metabolism of most microorganisms. To cater for the broad prospect of biochemicals, bioprocess optimization of diverse valuable products is becoming increasingly important for environmental sustainability and cleaner production. Based on Ca(OH)(2) as a CO(2) capture agent and pH regulator, a bioprocess was proposed for co-production of 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO), biohydrogen and micro-nano CaCO(3) by Clostridium butyricum DL07. RESULTS: In fed-batch fermentation, the maximum concentration of 1,3-PDO reached up to 88.6 g/L with an overall productivity of 5.54 g/L/h. This productivity is 31.9% higher than the highest value previously reports (4.20 g/L/h). In addition, the ratio of H(2) to CO(2) in exhaust gas showed a remarkable 152-fold increase in the 5 M Ca(OH)(2) group compared to 5 M NaOH as the CO(2) capture agent. Green hydrogen in exhaust gas ranged between 17.2% and 20.2%, with the remainder being N(2) with negligible CO(2) emissions. During CO(2) capture in situ, micro-nano calcite particles of CaCO(3) with sizes in the range of 300 nm to 20 µm were formed simultaneously. Moreover, when compared with 5M NaOH group, the concentrations of soluble salts and proteins in the fermentation broth of 5 M Ca(OH)(2) group were notably reduced by 53.6% and 44.1%, respectively. The remarkable reduction of soluble salts and proteins would contribute to the separation of 1,3-PDO. CONCLUSIONS: Ca(OH)(2) was used as a CO(2) capture agent and pH regulator in this study to promote the production of 1,3-PDO. Meanwhile, micro-nano CaCO(3) and green H(2) were co-produced. In addition, the soluble salts and proteins in the fermentation broth were significantly reduced. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13068-022-02190-2.