Biological thermochemical hybrid conversions and study of mixed "pyrotrophic" cultures
One possibility for the conversion of refractory materials is to couple thermochemical processes and biological fermentations. This alternative path is known as a thermochemical-biological hybrid treatment and potentially allows to obtain fuels and materials (e.g. polyhydroxyalkanoates) starting from substantially non-degradable substances (e.g. digestate or anaerobically digested sludges). The aim of the research is to study pyrolysis (or similar processes such as hydrothermal carbonization or gasification) as an alternative tool to hydrolysis to produce bioavailable substances, capable of being used by microorganisms or microbial consortia. These microbial consortia, which we call pyrotrophs, are able to live by using pyrolysis products as the only source of carbon.
