<i>In vivo</i>characterization of electroactive biofilms inside porous electrodes with MR Imaging

Häuser, Luca; Erben, Johannes; Pillot, Guillaume; Kerzenmacher, Sven; Dreher, Wolfgang; Küstermann, Ekkehard

doi:10.1039/d2ra01162j

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 86 publications

(166 reference statements)

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“…Several methods exist to quantify biomass amount, including in biofilm studies, such as dry weight measurements ( Sydow et al, 2017 ), qPCR ( Magalhães et al, 2019 ), optical density measurements ( Sydow et al, 2017 ), protein content ( Babanova et al, 2017 ), flow cytometry ( Vignola et al, 2018 ), optical coherence tomography (OCT) ( Molenaar et al, 2018 ; Hou et al, 2019 ), magnetic resonance imaging ( Wolf et al, 2002 ; Häuser et al, 2022 ), cell counting using microscopy ( Eddie et al, 2016 ; Phillips et al, 2020 ; Relucenti et al, 2021 ) or by cryo-sectioning thin biofilm slices ( Huang et al, 1996 ; Franklin et al, 2015 ; Persson et al, 2017 ). However, these techniques suffer from key limitations to determine time-dependent q -values in biofilm-based systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomass-specific rates as key performance indicators: A nitrogen balancing method for biofilm-based electrochemical conversion

Winkelhorst

Cabau-Peinado²,

Straathof³

et al. 2023

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) employ microorganisms utilizing solid-state electrodes as either electron sink or electron source, such as in microbial electrosynthesis (MES). METs reaction rate is traditionally normalized to the electrode dimensions or to the electrolyte volume, but should also be normalized to biomass amount present in the system at any given time. In biofilm-based systems, a major challenge is to determine the biomass amount in a non-destructive manner, especially in systems operated in continuous mode and using 3D electrodes. We developed a simple method using a nitrogen balance and optical density to determine the amount of microorganisms in biofilm and in suspension at any given time. For four MES reactors converting CO2 to carboxylates, >99% of the biomass was present as biofilm after 69 days of reactor operation. After a lag phase, the biomass-specific growth rate had increased to 0.12–0.16 days−1. After 100 days of operation, growth became insignificant. Biomass-specific production rates of carboxylates varied between 0.08–0.37 molC molX−1d−1. Using biomass-specific rates, one can more effectively assess the performance of MES, identify its limitations, and compare it to other fermentation technologies.

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