Direct bio-electrochemical

The main technology to be developed in this route is the microbial electrosynthesis system (MES), which is an electrochemical reactor which uses microorganisms as catalyst to reduce CO2 to hexanoic acid in the cathode compartment using non-sterile open microbial cultures.

Research challenges

Research challenges within this direct conversion route that we are focusing on are:

  • Increasing the current density to be sustained over long time to obtain a robust and stable system.
  • Elucidating fundamental mechanisms in biofilm based MES.
  • Developing optimised reactor design and operation at scale ≥100 cm2.
  • Integrating product recovery/separation unit(s) to MES in the aim both to recover the desired pure product and to improve MES performance.
  • Assessing the impact of system conditions in the design, upscaling, and market integration of microbial electrosynthesis.

Goals

Develop a full operational 100 kW hexanoic acid production system based on microbial electrosynthesis.