| Project Detail |
Biotransformation to trap the world’s CO2 emissions
The ongoing climate crisis and the accelerating production of greenhouse gases have forced the scientific community to come up with solutions for CO2 sequestration and/or recycling. In this context, the EU-funded BIOELECTRO-CO2 project will use a new biotechnology named microbial electrosynthesis that can biotransform a number of aqueous and gaseous wastes, including CO2, into useful chemical commodities. The researchers will fabricate and use gas diffusion electrodes enabling microbial catalysts to take up CO2 gas directly and more efficiently, solving the problem of low CO2 solubility in aqueous media and mass transfer limitations.
The on-going climate crisis and accelerating production of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide has sparked a sense of urgency in the scientific community to come up with solutions to sequestrate and/or recycle CO2. CO2 is a rather stable molecule that needs a high energy input to be chemically activated, and applications to utilize CO2 effectively are still in their infancy, with several research gaps that need to be filled. In this proposal we will use a new biotechnology named microbial electrosynthesis (MES) that has the ability to use a number of aqueous and gaseous wastes, including CO2, and biotransform them into useful chemical commodities. In order to use MES for practical and large-scale applications, utilization of CO2 from exhaust gases should be the target. We will fabricate and use gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs) enabling microbial catalysts to take up CO2 gas directly and more efficiently, solving the problem of low CO2 solubility in aqueous media and mass transfer limitations. This project will develop a novel dual biocatalyzed MES consisting of an efficient gas diffusion biocathode for CO2 sequestration in combination with a bioanode for simultaneous product valorization from glycerol, using different biocatalysts, including enriched and engineered synthetic communities. The use of microbial catalysts both at the anode and cathode will significantly increase efficiency and product specificity of the MES system, which is low with chemical catalysts. Furthermore, the application of a bioanode based on oxidation of a cheap industrial by-product such as glycerol, not only generates higher energy electrons for the GDE biocathode saving energy, but also leads to production of added value compounds, making the process more energy and cost efficient. |
