Enhancing stability and resilience of electromethanogenesis system by acclimating biocathode with intermittent step-up voltage

Abstract

Electromethanogenesis (EMG) system could efficiently convert CO₂ to CH₄ by using excess renewable electricity. However, the fluctuation and interruption of renewable electricity will adversely affect the biocathode and therefore the CH₄ production of the EMG system. In this work, a novel biocathode acclimation strategy with intermittent step-up voltage (ISUV) was proposed to improve the stability and resilience of the EMG system against the unstable input of renewable power. Compared with the intermittent application of constant voltage (IACV), the ISUV increased the rate of CH₄ production by 11.7 times with the improvement of the stability and resilience by 56% and 500%, respectively. Morphology and microflora structure analysis revealed that the biofilm enriched with ISUV exhibited a compact microflora structure with high-density cells and nanowires interconnected. This study provided a novel effective strategy to regulate the biofilm structure and enhance the performance of the EMG system.

Keywords: Biocathode; CO(2) reduction; Electromethanogenesis; Renewable electricity; Stability.