From Electricity to Products: Recent Updates on Microbial Electrosynthesis (MES)

• Published in: Topics in catalysis Vol. 67; no. 19-20; pp. 1253 - 1270
• Main Authors: Omidi, Marzieh, Mashkour, Mehrdad, Biswas, Jayanta Kumar, Garlapati, Vijay Kumar, Singh, Lakhveer, Rahimnejad, Mostafa, Pant, Deepak
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.11.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biochemical fuel cells; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sequestration; Catalysis; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical reactions; Chemical reduction; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electricity; Electrodes; Electrolysis; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Microorganisms; Original Paper; Oxidation; Pharmacy; Physical Chemistry; Platforms; Bioproduction; Microbial electrochemical technology (MET); CO; reduction; Bioelectrochemical system (BES); Microbial electrosynthesis (MES)
• ISSN: 1022-5528; 1572-9028
• DOI: 10.1007/s11244-021-01503-3

Microbial electrochemical processes are primary platforms for generating electricity or value-added products by relying on the interaction between electroactive microorganisms and electrodes by utilizing electron carriers like hydrogen and enzyme through the oxidation–reduction reactions. Microbial electrosynthesis (MES), initially introduced as electricity-driven bioproduction from CO 2 , offered a novel pathway to produce biochemicals that eventually contribute to the CO 2 sequestration. While most of the previous reviews concentrate on these microbial electrochemical platforms jointly referred to as MXC, such as Microbial fuel cell and microbial electrolysis cell, MES has grown tremendously in recent years, requiring a severe update on the scientific information on this topic. In this mini-review, the significant achievements in MES, specifically towards the production of a wide array of specialty chemicals, have been addressed by summarizing the recent scientific breakthroughs of the MES technology. Furthermore, improving MES's performance through modification of electrodes and membranes and outlook section with the technical challenges and probable solutions have been discussed. The review summarizes the technological drawbacks of the MES's towards a sustainable commercial platform for industrial commodities production and proposes ways to overcome the existing technical challenges in a nutshell towards turning MES in a full-fledged industrial-scale production platform.