Evaluating the effects of scaling up on the performance of bioelectrochemical systems using a technical scale microbial electrolysis cell

Brown, Robert K.; Harnisch, Falk; Wirth, Sebastian; Wahlandt, Helge; Dockhorn, Thomas; Dichtl, Norbert; Schröder, Uwe

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2014.04.044

Cited by 84 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Cathode material played an important role on efficient hydrogen recovery for application in terms of its cost, electrochemical property, specific surface area (Brown et al, 2014;Logan, 2010). Almost half of the cost were associated with cathode in laboratory scale, while the number should be decrease to 10% before large scale application .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cell with 3D self-assembly nickel foam-graphene cathode

Cai

Liu

Han

et al. 2016

Biosensors and Bioelectronics

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a b s t r a c tIn comparison to precious metal catalyst especially Platinum (Pt), nickel foam (NF) owned cheap cost and unique three-dimensional (3D) structure, however, it was scarcely applied as cathode material in microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) as the intrinsic laggard electrochemical activity for hydrogen recovery. In this study, a self-assembly 3D nickel foam-graphene (NF-G) cathode was fabricated by facile hydrothermal approach for hydrogen evolution in MECs. Electrochemical analysis (linear scan voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) revealed the improved electrochemical activity and effective mass diffusion after coating with graphene. NF-G as cathode in MEC showed a significant enhancement in hydrogen production rate compared with nickel foam at a variety of biases. Noticeably, NF-G showed a comparable averaged hydrogen production rate (1.31 70.07 mL H 2 mLPlatinum/carbon (Pt/C) (1.327 0.07 mL H 2 mL) at 0.8 V. Profitable energy recovery could be achieved by NF-G cathode at higher applied voltage, which performed the best hydrogen yield of 3.27 7 0.16 mol H 2 mol À 1 acetate at 0.8 V and highest energy efficiency of 185.92 7 6.48% at 0.6 V.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cell with 3D self-assembly nickel foam-graphene cathode

Cai

Liu

Han

et al. 2016

Biosensors and Bioelectronics

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“…Laboratory scale cells work in optimized conditions that sometimes are not feasible for industrial use. For example, a pertinent challenge for electrochemical cells is to design scaled up systems with the same low internal resistance as the small scale devices 105,106 . Low internal resistance can be achieved by stacking electrodes and compartments close to each other allowing for short distances between electrodes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioelectrochemical metal recovery with microbial fuel cells

Motos¹

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“…Usually, a high titer of above 100 g L -1 is also regarded as a considerable advantage for downstream processing. In the past few years, several research groups have attempted to assess the scale-up feasibility of bioelectrochemical systems [109][110][111], in particular of MFC and microbial electrolysis technologies [112][113][114]. The engineering and economic potential of electricity-driven bioproduction processes has also been recently discussed.…”

Section: Implications Towards Practical Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Practical implementation of BESs has previously been discussed [109][110][111] and some scaleup attempts have been made, especially of microbial fuel cells and microbial electrolysis cells [112][113][114]. Extensive reviews of the processes have identified the main challenges for the industrial implementation of BES systems to include the low productivity, low growth rates of the biocatalyst and limited product specificity [6,109].…”

Section: Prospective Biocompatible Electrode Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the past few years, several research groups have attempted to assess the scaling-up feasibility of bioelectrochemical systems [109][110][111]233], in particular of MFC and microbial electrolysis cells technologies [112][113][114]. It has become common practice within the academic community to assess BES for engineering application by normalizing current and other production related parameters to projected surface area of 1 square meter.…”

Section: Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microbial electrosynthesis from carbon dioxide: performance enhancement and elucidation of mechanisms

Jourdin¹

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Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) of organics from carbon dioxide has been recently put forward as an attractive technology for the renewable production of valuable multi-carbon reduced end-products and as a promising CO 2 transformation strategy. MES is a biocathode-driven process that relies on the conversion of electrical energy into high energy-density chemicals. However, MES remains a nascent concept and there is still limited knowledge on many aspects.It is still unclear whether autotrophic microbial biocathode biofilms are able to selfregenerate under purely cathodic conditions without any external electron or organic carbon sources. Here we report on the successful development and long-term operation of an autotrophic biocathode whereby an electroactive biofilm was able to grow and sustain itself with CO 2 and the cathode as sole carbon and electron source, respectively, with H 2 as sole product. From a small inoculum of 15 mg COD (in 250 mL), the bioelectrochemical system operating at -0.5 V vs. SHE enabled an estimated biofilm growth of 300 mg as COD over a period of 276 days.A critical aspect is that reported performances of bioelectrosynthesis of organics are still insufficient for scaling MES to practical applications. Selective microbial consortia and biocathode material development are of paramount importance towards performance enhancement. A novel biocompatible, highly conductive three-dimensional cathode was manufactured by direct growth of flexible multiwalled carbon nanotubes on reticulated vitreous carbon (NanoWeb-RVC) by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The results demonstrated that: (i) the high surface area to volume ratio of the macroporous RVC maximizes the available biofilm area while ensuring effective mass transfer to and from the biofilm, and (ii) the nanostructure enhances the bacteria-electrode interaction, biofilm development, microbial extracellular electron transfer, and acetate bioproduction rate.However, for scale-up beyond certain sizes, there are some limitations with the CVD technique. We harnessed the throwing power of electrophoretic deposition technique (EPD), suitable for industrial scale production, to form multi-walled CNT coatings onto RVC to generate a new hierarchical porous structure, hereafter called EPD-3D. A very effective mixed microbial consortium was successfully enriched and transferred to EPD-3D reactors and demonstrated drastic performance enhancement reaching biocathode current density of -102 ± 1 A m -2 and acetate production rate of 685 ± 30 g m -2 day -1 .ii An in-depth understanding on how electrons flow from the cathode to the terminal electron acceptor is still missing but crucial (e.g. for improved reactor design). High rates of acetate production by microbial electrosynthesis was shown to occur via biologically-induced hydrogen, likely through the biological synthesis of metal copper particles, with 99 ± 1% electron recovery into acetate. The acetate-producing bacteria showed the remarkable ability to consume a high H 2 flux (ca. 1.15 m ...

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Evaluating the effects of scaling up on the performance of bioelectrochemical systems using a technical scale microbial electrolysis cell

Cited by 84 publications

References 34 publications

Enhanced hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cell with 3D self-assembly nickel foam-graphene cathode

Enhanced hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis cell with 3D self-assembly nickel foam-graphene cathode

Bioelectrochemical metal recovery with microbial fuel cells

Microbial electrosynthesis from carbon dioxide: performance enhancement and elucidation of mechanisms

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