Scaling-up of microbial electrosynthesis with multiple electrodes for in situ production of hydrogen peroxide

Rusen Zou; Aliyeh Hasanzadeh; Alireza Khataee; Xiaoyong Yang; Mingyi Xu; Irini Angelidaki; Yifeng Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102094

Scaling-up of microbial electrosynthesis with multiple electrodes for in situ production of hydrogen peroxide

iScience. 2021 Jan 22;24(2):102094. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102094. eCollection 2021 Feb 19.

Authors

Rusen Zou¹, Aliyeh Hasanzadeh², Alireza Khataee^{3

4}, Xiaoyong Yang¹, Mingyi Xu¹, Irini Angelidaki¹, Yifeng Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark.
² Process and Systems Engineering Center (PROSYS), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
³ Research Laboratory of Advanced Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, 51666-16471, Tabriz, Iran.
⁴ Рeoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), 6 Miklukho-Maklaya Street, Moscow, 117198, Russian Federation.

Abstract

Microbial electrosynthesis system (MES) has recently been shown to be a promising alternative way for realizing in situ and energy-saving synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Although promising, the scaling-up feasibility of such a process is rarely reported. In this study, a 20-L up-scaled two-chamber MES reactor was developed and investigated for in situ and efficient H₂O₂ electrosynthesis. Maximum H₂O₂ production rate of 10.82 mg L^-1 h^-1 and cumulative H₂O₂ concentration of 454.44 mg L^-1 within 42 h were obtained with an input voltage of 0.6 V, cathodic aeration velocity of 0.045 mL min^-1 mL^-1, 50 mM Na₂SO₄, and initial pH 3. The electrical energy consumption regarding direct input voltage was only 0.239 kWh kg^-1 H₂O₂, which was further much lower compared with laboratory-scale systems. The obtained results suggested that the future industrialization of MES technology for in situ synthesis of H₂O₂ and further application in environmental remediation have broad prospects.

Keywords: biotechnology; electrochemistry; engineering; materials science.