Biomass production from electricity using ammonia as an electron carrier in a reverse microbial fuel cell

PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44846. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044846. Epub 2012 Sep 19.

Abstract

The storage of renewable electrical energy within chemical bonds of biofuels and other chemicals is a route to decreasing petroleum usage. A critical challenge is the efficient transfer of electrons into a biological host that can covert this energy into high energy organic compounds. In this paper, we describe an approach whereby biomass is grown using energy obtained from a soluble mediator that is regenerated electrochemically. The net result is a separate-stage reverse microbial fuel cell (rMFC) that fixes CO₂ into biomass using electrical energy. We selected ammonia as a low cost, abundant, safe, and soluble redox mediator that facilitated energy transfer to biomass. Nitrosomonas europaea, a chemolithoautotroph, was used as the biocatalyst due to its inherent capability to utilize ammonia as its sole energy source for growth. An electrochemical reactor was designed for the regeneration of ammonia from nitrite, and current efficiencies of 100% were achieved. Calculations indicated that overall bioproduction efficiency could approach 2.7±0.2% under optimal electrolysis conditions. The application of chemolithoautotrophy for industrial bioproduction has been largely unexplored, and results suggest that this and related rMFC platforms may enable biofuel and related biochemical production.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Ammonia / metabolism*
  • Bioelectric Energy Sources / microbiology*
  • Biomass*
  • Bioreactors / microbiology
  • Culture Media / metabolism
  • Electricity*
  • Electrochemistry
  • Electron Transport
  • Energy Metabolism
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Nitrites / metabolism
  • Nitrosomonas europaea / genetics
  • Nitrosomonas europaea / metabolism
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Culture Media
  • Nitrites
  • Ammonia

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Department of Energy through the ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy) electrofuels program (http://arpa-e.energy.gov/ProgramsProjects/Electrofuels.aspx) under grant number DE-AR000060. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.