Electrification of Biotechnology: Quo Vadis?

Holtmann, Dirk

doi:10.1007/10_2018_75

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Both technologies are important to industry and will certainly remain in the focus of research during the next years, and by now it looks as if processes using electrobiotechnology are already thinkable from an economic point of view . At the moment there is a discrepancy of a bright future for electrobiotechnology at the horizon . Nevertheless, there is a risk that electrobiotechnology is running into the “valley of death”, like other promising technologies in the past.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We suggest to place electrobiotechnology at most in TRL 5 (Technology validated in relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)) and photobiotechnology in TRL 9, since some processes are already working since several years in industrial scale (Table ). It must be mentioned that the TRLs of the most electrobiotechnology and photobiotechnology process are lower .…”

Section: Same But Different–comparison Of Photobiotechnology and Elecmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Same but different–Scale up and numbering up in electrobiotechnology and photobiotechnology

Enzmann

Stöckl

Zeng

et al. 2019

Engineering in Life Sciences

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Facing energy problems, there is a strong demand for new technologies dealing with the replacement of fossil fuels. The emerging fields of biotechnology, photobiotechnology and electrobiotechnology, offer solutions for the production of fuels, energy, or chemicals using renewable energy sources (light or electrical current e.g. produced by wind or solar power) or organic (waste) substrates. From an engineering point of view both technologies have analogies and some similar challenges, since both light and electron transfer are primarily surface‐dependent. In contrast to that, bioproduction processes are typically volume dependent. To allow large scale and industrially relevant applications of photobiotechnology and electrobiotechnology, this opinion first gives an overview over the current scales reached in these areas. We then try to point out the challenges and possible methods for the scale up or numbering up of the reactors used. It is shown that the field of photobiotechnology is by now much more advanced than electrobiotechnology and has achieved industrial applications in some cases. We argue that transferring knowledge from photobiotechnology to electrobiotechnology can speed up the development of the emerging field of electrobiotechnology. We believe that a combination of scale up and numbering up, as it has been shown for several photobiotechnological reactors, may well lead to industrially relevant scales in electrobiotechnological processes allowing an industrial application of the technology in near future.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Same But Different–comparison Of Photobiotechnology and Elecmentioning

confidence: 99%

Same but different–Scale up and numbering up in electrobiotechnology and photobiotechnology

Enzmann

Stöckl

Zeng

et al. 2019

Engineering in Life Sciences

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, (i) the combination of bioelectrocatalysis and synthetic biology (including novel target pathways and electro-stimulation of microbial metabolism), (ii) design and application of new reaction media that favour the bioprocess itself and downstream steps, and (iii) engineering applications for large scale implementations. To address current issues, a synergy between sibling and complementary research fields such as electro-microbiology, electrochemistry, materials science, and engineering are required (Holtmann and Harnisch, 2018). A rational scale-up approach must be prioritized over empirical methods based on trial-and-error experiments, which have been unsuccessful so far in similar electro-biotechnological processes (Cheng and Logan, 2011;Cusick et al, 2011).…”

Section: J O U R N a L P R E -P R O O Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electro-fermentation: Sustainable bioproductions steered by electricity

Virdis

Hoelzle

Marchetti

et al. 2022

Biotechnology Advances

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…MES has gained increasing attention as it promises to use renewable (electric) energy and biogenic feedstock for a bio-based economy. For paving the way of MES from its current technology readiness level (TRL 1 ) of maximum 4-5 to a production technology, an adequate reactor infrastructure is required (Holtmann and Harnisch, 2019). These reactors must allow balancing the necessities related to the exploitation of microorganisms with the requirements for electrochemical reactions taking place.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Electrochemistry Into Bioreactors: Effect of the Upgrade Kit on Mass Transfer, Mixing Time and Sterilizability

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is an exciting and dynamic research area at the nexus of microbiology and electrochemistry. To pave the way of MES to application, reactor infrastructure is needed that meets the requirements of both biological, and electrochemical engineering. Recently we presented an upgrade kit facilitating turning commercial bioreactors based on batch stirred tank reactors (BSTR) into electrobioreactors that can be scaled and benchmarked. The upgrade kit comprises electrodes and an inlay with membrane, separating the BSTR chamber into anode and cathode compartments. The obtained electrobioreactors enable seizing the existing infrastructure for monitoring and controlling the bioprocess while being complemented by electrochemical control and measurement. Here the effect of the upgrade kit on mass transfer was investigated in a 1 L electrobioreactor using experimental approaches and modeling of fluid dynamics. It is shown that the fluid dynamics in the BSTR are changed dramatically, impacting the integral parameters volumetric mass transfer coefficient, k L a, and mixing time, θ. The influences of the inlay chamber and electrodes as well as stirrer position and geometry are described. Additionally, the sterilizability of the inlay, housing the polymer-based membrane of the electrobioreactor, which is needed for operating two-chamber MES based on microbial pure cultures, are demonstrated.

show abstract

Electrification of Biotechnology: Quo Vadis?

Cited by 9 publications

References 37 publications

Same but different–Scale up and numbering up in electrobiotechnology and photobiotechnology

Same but different–Scale up and numbering up in electrobiotechnology and photobiotechnology

Electro-fermentation: Sustainable bioproductions steered by electricity

Integrating Electrochemistry Into Bioreactors: Effect of the Upgrade Kit on Mass Transfer, Mixing Time and Sterilizability

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About