Team:Charlottesville RS

Overview

In Albemarle County, Virginia, a large amount of wastewater flows to and is processed by the Moores Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. Each year, the plant spends 250,000 dollars on glycerin, which is used as an energy source by specific bacteria in the sewage to denitrify the water. Denitrification of the effluent from the wastewater must occur to remove nitrate from the wastewater and thus, prevent eutrophication in the Chesapeake Bay. The UVa iGEM team from 2008 created a part which, when added, enables E.Coli to produce polyhydroxybutyrate, a biodegradable, bio-derived plastic. Our project is to make E.Coli that produces this plastic The water treatment plant could then add the engineered E.coli to the wastewater where the E. Coli would produce and secrete polyhydroxybutyrate into the water., The denitrifying bacteria in the wastewater would then be able to use this plastic as an alternative energy source for denitrification saving the water treatment plant 250,000 dollars per year, as well as giving them a renewable energy source for their plant.