Emerging bioelectrochemical technologies for biogas production and upgrading in cascading circular bioenergy systems

Xue Ning; Richen Lin; Richard O'Shea; David Wall; Chen Deng; Benteng Wu; Jerry D Murphy

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102998

Emerging bioelectrochemical technologies for biogas production and upgrading in cascading circular bioenergy systems

iScience. 2021 Aug 18;24(9):102998. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102998. eCollection 2021 Sep 24.

Authors

Xue Ning^{1

2}, Richen Lin^{1

2}, Richard O'Shea^{1

2}, David Wall^{1

2}, Chen Deng^{1

2}, Benteng Wu^{1

2}, Jerry D Murphy^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ MaREI Centre, Environmental Research Institute, School of Engineering, University College Cork, Cork T23XE10, Ireland.
² Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Architecture, University College Cork, Cork T23XE10, Ireland.

Abstract

Biomethane is suggested as an advanced biofuel for the hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy transport. However, future systems that optimize the resource and production of biomethane have yet to be definitively defined. This paper assesses the opportunity of integrating anaerobic digestion (AD) with three emerging bioelectrochemical technologies in a circular cascading bioeconomy, including for power-to-gas AD (P2G-AD), microbial electrolysis cell AD (MEC-AD), and AD microbial electrosynthesis (AD-MES). The mass and energy flow of the three bioelectrochemical systems are compared with the conventional AD amine scrubber system depending on the availability of renewable electricity. An energy balance assessment indicates that P2G-AD, MEC-AD, and AD-MES circular cascading bioelectrochemical systems gain positive energy outputs by using electricity that would have been curtailed or constrained (equivalent to a primary energy factor of zero). This analysis of technological innovation, aids in the design of future cascading circular biosystems to produce sustainable advanced biofuels.

Keywords: Electrochemical energy production; Energy systems; Microbiology.

Publication types

Review