Metabolic Shift of Clostridium butyricum by External Electron Supply in Raw Glycerol Electrofermentation

Abstract

Crude glycerol can serve as a low-cost substrate in biotechnological applications. Electrofermentation is a bioelectrochemical technology in which it is possible to improve and control microbial fermentation increasing the specificity of metabolic pathways. This paper evaluates the effect of external electron supply on the production of metabolites of commercial interest with a metabolic network of C. butyricum. The results obtained from a model simulation show that electrofermentation could improve the yields of 1,3-propanediol (23%) and hydrogen (45%) using glycerol as substrate.