Carbon dioxide and organic waste valorization by microbial electrosynthesis and electro-fermentation

Yong Jiang; Harold D May; Lu Lu; Peng Liang; Xia Huang; Zhiyong Jason Ren

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2018.10.092

Carbon dioxide and organic waste valorization by microbial electrosynthesis and electro-fermentation

Water Res. 2019 Feb 1:149:42-55. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.10.092. Epub 2018 Nov 2.

Authors

Yong Jiang¹, Harold D May², Lu Lu³, Peng Liang⁴, Xia Huang⁵, Zhiyong Jason Ren⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, PR China; Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350002, China.
² Hollings Marine Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
³ Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.
⁴ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, PR China. Electronic address: liangpeng@tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁵ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, PR China.
⁶ Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA. Electronic address: zjren@princeton.edu.

PMID: 30419466
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.10.092

Abstract

Carbon-rich waste materials (solid, liquid, or gaseous) are largely considered to be a burden on society due to the large capital and energy costs for their treatment and disposal. However, solid and liquid organic wastes have inherent energy and value, and similar as waste CO₂ gas they can be reused to produce value-added chemicals and materials. There has been a paradigm shift towards developing a closed loop, biorefinery approach for the valorization of these wastes into value-added products, and such an approach enables a more carbon-efficient and circular economy. This review quantitatively analyzes the state-of-the-art of the emerging microbial electrochemical technology (MET) platform and provides critical perspectives on research advancement and technology development. The review offers side-by-side comparison between microbial electrosynthesis (MES) and electro-fermentation (EF) processes in terms of principles, key performance metrics, data analysis, and microorganisms. The study also summarizes all the processes and products that have been developed using MES and EF to date for organic waste and CO₂ valorization. It finally identifies the technological and economic potentials and challenges on future system development.

Keywords: Bioelectrochemical system; Carbon valorization; Electro-fermentation; Microbial electrochemical technology; Microbial electrosynthesis.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Carbon Dioxide*
Fermentation

Substances

Carbon Dioxide