Microbial Electrosynthesis: The Future of Next-Generation Biofuel Production—A Review

Radu Mirea (), Elisa Popescu () and Traian Zaharescu
Additional contact information
Radu Mirea: Romanian Research and Development Institute for Gas Turbines—COMOTI, 220D Iuliu Maniu Blvd, 061126 Bucharest, Romania
Elisa Popescu: Department 14—Orthopedics, ”Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 8 Eroii Sanitari Blvd, 020021 Bucharest, Romania
Traian Zaharescu: National Research and Development Institute for Electrical Engineering, ICPE-CA, 313 Splaiul Unirii, 030138 Bucharest, Romania

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-25

Abstract: Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) has emerged as a promising bio-electrochemical technology for sustainable CO 2 conversion into valuable organic compounds since it uses living electroactive microbes to directly convert CO 2 into value-added products. This review synthesizes advancements in MES from 2010 to 2025, focusing on the electrode materials, microbial communities, reactor engineering, performance trends, techno-economic evaluations, and future challenges, especially on the results reported between 2020 and 2025, thus highlighting that MES technology is now a technology to be reckoned with in the spectrum of biofuel technology production. While the current productivity and scalability of microbial electrochemical systems (MESs) remain limited compared to conventional CO 2 conversion technologies, MES offers distinct advantages, including process simplicity, as it operates under ambient conditions without the need for high pressures or temperatures; modularity, allowing reactors to be stacked or scaled incrementally to match varying throughput requirements; and seamless integration with circular economy strategies, enabling the direct valorization of waste streams, wastewater, or renewable electricity into valuable multi-carbon products. These features position MES as a promising platform for sustainable and adaptable CO 2 utilization, particularly in decentralized or resource-constrained settings. Recent innovations in electrode materials, such as conductive polymers and metal–organic frameworks, have enhanced electron transfer efficiency and microbial attachment, leading to improved MES performance. The development of diverse microbial consortia has expanded the range of products achievable through MES, with studies highlighting the importance of microbial interactions and metabolic pathways in product formation. Advancements in reactor design, including continuous-flow systems and membrane-less configurations, have addressed scalability issues, enhancing mass transfer and system stability. Performance metrics, such as the current densities and product yields, have improved due to exceptionally high product selectivity and surface-area-normalized production compared to abiotic systems, demonstrating the potential of MES for industrial applications. Techno-economic analyses indicate that while MES offers promising economic prospects, challenges related to cost-effective electrode materials and system integration remain. Future research should focus on optimizing microbial communities, developing advanced electrode materials, and designing scalable reactors to overcome the existing limitations. Addressing these challenges will be crucial for the commercialization of MES as a viable technology for sustainable chemical production. Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) offers a novel route to biofuels by directly converting CO 2 and renewable electricity into energy carriers, bypassing the costly biomass feedstocks required in conventional pathways. With advances in electrode materials, reactor engineering, and microbial performance, MES could achieve cost-competitive, carbon-neutral fuels, positioning it as a critical complement to future biofuel technologies.

Keywords: microbial electrosynthesis; CO 2 conversion; electrode materials; microbial communities; reactor engineering; performance trends; techno-economics; sustainability; bio-electrochemical systems; renewable energy (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: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/19/5187/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/19/5187/ (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:18:y:2025:i:19:p:5187-:d:1761423

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Shen

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