Journal article
Biologically Induced Hydrogen Production Drives High Rate/High Efficiency Microbial Electrosynthesis of Acetate from Carbon Dioxide
L Jourdin, Y Lu, V Flexer, J Keller, S Freguia
Chemelectrochem | WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH | Published : 2016
Abstract
Electron-transfer pathways occurring in biocathodes are still unknown. We demonstrate here that high rates of acetate production by microbial electrosynthesis are mainly driven by an electron flux from the electrode to carbon dioxide, occurring via biologically induced hydrogen, with (99±1)% electron recovery into acetate. Nevertheless, acetate production is shown to occur exclusively within the biofilm. The acetate producers, putatively Acetoanaerobium, showed the remarkable ability to consume a high H2 flux before it could escape from the biofilm. At zero wastage of H2 gas, it allows superior production rates and lesser technical bottlenecks over technologies that rely on mass transfer of ..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
VF acknowledges a UQ Postdoctoral Fellowship. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Grant DP110100539. The authors acknowledge the facilities and the scientific and technical assistance of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility at the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (The University of Queensland). The authors also acknowledge the facilities, and the scientific and technical assistance, of the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics (the University of Queensland) for pyrosequencing analysis. The authors thank Dr. B. C. Donose for fruitful discussions and SEM imaging of the biofilm samples. The authors also acknowledge Dr. J. Chen and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia, for providing EPD-3D electrodes.