Chapter 13 - Metabolic engineering and synthetic biology key players for improving efficacy of microbial fuel cell technology

Abstract

Optimization of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology is one of the most essential issues toward large-scale production of bioelectricity. Depletion of fossil fuel reserves, energy security, and lacking cheaper fuel alternatives have generated a crisis to establish a sustainable renewable energy platform. Thus, MFC technologies have paid great attention to generate bioelectricity through the assimilation of diverse ranges of cheap feedstocks including wastewaters, agricultural lignocellulosic residues, and toxic industrial effluents. On the major dark horse of MFC technology is the broad spectrum of microbial communities and their corresponding complex metabolic networks. If somehow these complicated microbial metabolic pathways could be properly regulated or controlled, then it may be a key ladder to attain higher bioelectricity yields. Over here, metabolic engineering and synthetic biology have played pivotal roles to overcome aforementioned metabolic constraints for improving bioelectricity generation through MFC platform. Therefore, the current chapter deals with current advancements in MFC technology to ameliorate bioelectricity generations using metabolic engineering and synthetic biology toolboxes as a potential sustainable way out.