Mixed microbial culture (MMC) electrofermentation (EF) represents a promising tool to drive metabolic pathways toward the production of a specific compound. Here, the MMC-EF process has been exploited to obtain butyric acid in simplified membrane-less reactors operated by applying a difference of potential between two low-cost graphite electrodes. Ten values of voltage difference, from -0.60 V to -1.5 V, have been tested and compared with the experiment under open circuit potential (OCP). In all the tested conditions, an enhancement in the production rate of butyric acid (from a synthetic mixture of glucose, acetate, and ethanol) was observed, ranging from 1.3- to 2.7-fold relative to the OCP. Smaller enhancements in the production rate resulted in higher values of the calculated specific energy consumption. However, at all applied voltages, a low flow of current was detected in the one-chamber reactors, accounting for an average value of approximately -100 µA. These results hold a substantial potential with respect to the scalability of the electrofermentation technology, since they pinpoint the possibility to control MMC-based bioprocesses by simply inserting polarized electrodes into traditional fermenters.

Simplified reactor design for mixed culture-based electrofermentation toward butyric acid production / Paiano, P.; Premier, G.; Guwy, A.; Kaur, A.; Michie, I.; Majone, M.; Villano, M.. - In: PROCESSES. - ISSN 2227-9717. - 9:3(2021). [10.3390/pr9030417]

Simplified reactor design for mixed culture-based electrofermentation toward butyric acid production

Paiano P.;Majone M.;Villano M.
2021

Abstract

Mixed microbial culture (MMC) electrofermentation (EF) represents a promising tool to drive metabolic pathways toward the production of a specific compound. Here, the MMC-EF process has been exploited to obtain butyric acid in simplified membrane-less reactors operated by applying a difference of potential between two low-cost graphite electrodes. Ten values of voltage difference, from -0.60 V to -1.5 V, have been tested and compared with the experiment under open circuit potential (OCP). In all the tested conditions, an enhancement in the production rate of butyric acid (from a synthetic mixture of glucose, acetate, and ethanol) was observed, ranging from 1.3- to 2.7-fold relative to the OCP. Smaller enhancements in the production rate resulted in higher values of the calculated specific energy consumption. However, at all applied voltages, a low flow of current was detected in the one-chamber reactors, accounting for an average value of approximately -100 µA. These results hold a substantial potential with respect to the scalability of the electrofermentation technology, since they pinpoint the possibility to control MMC-based bioprocesses by simply inserting polarized electrodes into traditional fermenters.
2021
applied voltage; butyric acid; electrofermentation; mixed microbial cultures; single-chamber reactor
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Simplified reactor design for mixed culture-based electrofermentation toward butyric acid production / Paiano, P.; Premier, G.; Guwy, A.; Kaur, A.; Michie, I.; Majone, M.; Villano, M.. - In: PROCESSES. - ISSN 2227-9717. - 9:3(2021). [10.3390/pr9030417]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1526810
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