LAPSE:2023.24689
Published Article
LAPSE:2023.24689
Simplified Reactor Design for Mixed Culture-Based Electrofermentation toward Butyric Acid Production
Paola Paiano, Giuliano Premier, Alan Guwy, Amandeep Kaur, Iain Michie, Mauro Majone, Marianna Villano
March 28, 2023
Mixed microbial culture (MMC) electrofermentation (EF) represents a promising tool to drive metabolic pathways toward the production of a specific compound. Here, the MMC-EF process has been exploited to obtain butyric acid in simplified membrane-less reactors operated by applying a difference of potential between two low-cost graphite electrodes. Ten values of voltage difference, from −0.60 V to −1.5 V, have been tested and compared with the experiment under open circuit potential (OCP). In all the tested conditions, an enhancement in the production rate of butyric acid (from a synthetic mixture of glucose, acetate, and ethanol) was observed, ranging from 1.3- to 2.7-fold relative to the OCP. Smaller enhancements in the production rate resulted in higher values of the calculated specific energy consumption. However, at all applied voltages, a low flow of current was detected in the one-chamber reactors, accounting for an average value of approximately −100 µA. These results hold a substantial potential with respect to the scalability of the electrofermentation technology, since they pinpoint the possibility to control MMC-based bioprocesses by simply inserting polarized electrodes into traditional fermenters.
Keywords
applied voltage, butyric acid, electrofermentation, mixed microbial cultures, single-chamber reactor
Subject
Suggested Citation
Paiano P, Premier G, Guwy A, Kaur A, Michie I, Majone M, Villano M. Simplified Reactor Design for Mixed Culture-Based Electrofermentation toward Butyric Acid Production. (2023). LAPSE:2023.24689
Author Affiliations
Paiano P: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC), Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan CF37 1DL, UK
Premier G: Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC), Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan CF37 1DL, UK [ORCID]
Guwy A: Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC), Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan CF37 1DL, UK
Kaur A: Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC), Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan CF37 1DL, UK
Michie I: Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC), Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, Mid-Glamorgan CF37 1DL, UK
Majone M: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Villano M: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy [ORCID]
Journal Name
Processes
Volume
9
Issue
3
First Page
417
Year
2021
Publication Date
2021-02-25
Published Version
ISSN
2227-9717
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Original Submission
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PII: pr9030417, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2023.24689
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doi:10.3390/pr9030417
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Mar 28, 2023
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