Trends in Biotechnology
ReviewFocus on BioelectrochemistryBioelectrochemical Power-to-Gas: State of the Art and Future Perspectives
Section snippets
Methane production in BESs
Discussions about climate change have led to a sharpened awareness for the need of switching to sustainable and carbon-neutral energy sources as alternatives to fossil fuels and natural gas. BESs (Bioelectrochemical systems, see Glossary) are a promising technology that can treat wastewater while simultaneously producing electrical energy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Besides producing electricity, these systems have other applications, like the bioelectrochemical remediation of recalcitrant organic
Performance of methane-producing BESs
The focus of researching methane as the main product in a BES started in 2008 [30], and in the following years, 2–8 research articles per year have been published. Key parameters to assess the performance of methane-producing BES (Box 1) are the methane production rate (in liters of methane produced with respect to cathode surface area or reactor volume per day; l CH4/m2 cat/day or l CH4/l reactor/day), which is closely related to the cathode potential (in V vs. normal hydrogen electrode, NHE)
Is Bioelectrochemical Methane Production the Future P2G Technology?
In addition to BEP2G, there are two other P2G technologies that can be used to produce methane from carbon dioxide, although not for storing electricity: TM and BM. Both technologies use a two-step process: first, electricity is converted into hydrogen gas using electrolysis, and second, hydrogen gas is fed into a reactor to produce methane from carbon dioxide. TM (i.e., the Sabatier process) uses nickel as the catalyst and takes place at elevated temperatures between 250 and 600°C 34, 35. BM
Concluding Remarks
Improvement of methane-producing BESs, with focus on reducing overpotentials and other losses caused by internal resistance, is required to see the potential of this technology. To further improve the performance of methane-producing BESs, the following challenges lie ahead (see Outstanding Questions).
Reduce energy losses at the cathode (cathode overpotential). On the one hand, energy losses can be reduced via increasing the mass transport of substrates towards and products away from the
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the Cluster of Excellence RESOLV (EXC 1069) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and by Alliander (Netherlands) and DMT Environmental Technology together with the Chinese Scholarship Council (File No. 201306120043).
Glossary
- Acetoclastic methanogenesis
- metabolic pathway of anaerobic archaea that converts acetic acid to methane.
- Anaerobic digestion
- microbial breakdown of biodegradable material through several processes in the absence of oxygen.
- Bioanode
- an anode that uses microorganisms attached to the surface as catalysts for current generation.
- Biocathode
- a cathode that uses microorganisms attached to the surface as catalysts for synthesizing products.
- Biochemical methanogenesis
- conversion of carbon dioxide and hydrogen to
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