Conversion of Biomass to Chemicals via Electrofermentation of Lactic Acid Bacteria

Johanna C. Winder, Mark Hewlett, Ping Liu and John Love ()
Additional contact information
Johanna C. Winder: Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PY, UK
Mark Hewlett: Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PY, UK
Ping Liu: Shell Technology Center Houston, Houston, TX 77082, USA
John Love: Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PY, UK

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 22, 1-15

Abstract: Microbial electrosynthesis is the process of supplying electrons to microorganisms to reduce CO 2 and yield industrially relevant products. Such systems are limited by their requirement for high currents, resulting in challenges to cell survival. Electrofermentation is an electron-efficient form of microbial electrosynthesis in which a small cathodic or anodic current is provided to a culture to alter the oxidation–reduction potential of the medium and, in turn, alter microbial metabolism. This approach has been successfully utilised to increase yields of diverse products including biogas, butanediol and lactate. Biomass conversion to lactate is frequently facilitated by ensiling plant biomass with homofermentative lactic acid bacteria. Although most commonly used as a preservative in ensiled animal feed, lactate has diverse industrial applications as a precursor for the production of probiotics, biofuels, bioplastics and platform chemicals. Lactate yields by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are constrained by a number of redox limitations which must be overcome while maintaining profitability and sustainability. To date, electrofermentation has not been scaled past laboratory- or pilot-stage reactions. The increasing ease of genetic modification in a wide range of LAB species may prove key to overcoming some of the pitfalls of electrofermentation at commercial scale. This review explores the history of electrofermentation as a tool for controlling redox balance within bacterial biocatalysts, and the potential for electrofermentation to increase lactate production from low-value plant biomass.

Keywords: lactic acid bacteria; LAB; electrofermentation; ensiling; fermentation; platform precursor chemicals; PPCs; biofuels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/22/8638/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/22/8638/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:22:p:8638-:d:976101

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().