Scalable Unseparated Bioelectrochemical Reactors by Using a Carbon Fiber Brush as Stirrer and Working Electrode

Abstract

Abstract The concept of energy conversion into platform chemicals using bioelectrochemical systems (BES) has gained increasing attention in recent years, as the technology simultaneously provides an opportunity for sustainable chemical production and tackles the challenge of Power‐to‐X technologies. There are many approaches to realize the industrial scale of BES. One concept is to equip standard bioreactors with static electrodes. However, large installations resulted in a negative influence on various reactor parameters. In this study, we present a new single‐chamber BES based on a stirred tank reactor in which the stirrer was replaced by a carbon fiber brush, performing the functions of the working electrode and the stirrer. The reactor is characterized in abiotic studies and electro‐fermentations with Clostridium acetobutylicum. Compared to standard reactors an increase in butanol production of 20.14±3.66 % shows that the new BES can be efficiently used for bioelectrochemical processes.

Keywords

• Bioelectrochemistry
• Clostridium acetobutylicum
• Electro-fermentation
• Electron transport
• Energy conversion