Operational and technical considerations for microbial electrosynthesis

Extracellular electron transfer has, in one decade, emerged from an environmental phenomenon to an industrial process driver. On the one hand, electron transfer towards anodes leads to production of power or chemicals such as hydrogen, caustic soda and hydrogen peroxide. On the other hand, electron transfer from cathodes enables bioremediation and bioproduction. Although the microbiology of extracellular electron transfer is increasingly being understood, bringing the processes to application requires a number of considerations that are both operational and technical. In the present paper, we investigate the key applied aspects related to electricity-driven bioproduction, including biofilm development, reactor and electrode design, substrate fluxes, surface chemistry, hydrodynamics and electrochemistry, and finally end-product removal/toxicity. Each of these aspects will be critical for the full exploitation of the intriguing physiological feat that extracellular electron transfer is today.

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