Chapter 4 - Microbial electrosynthesis (MES)-based wastewater treatment and resource recovery

Abstract

From the standpoint of a circular bioeconomy, recycling carbon dioxide into organic products and efficient wastewater treatment through microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is appealing. However, before MES applications can be scaled up, a variety of associated issues must be resolved. The recent developments in electrode materials, microbe-catalyzed CO2 reduction, and the use of MES energy are all investigated in this chapter. We elaborate on the key synthetic biology techniques for increasing the performance of MES by optimizing bi-directional Extracellular Electron Transfer and target product synthesis. Prior to that, researchers looked on MES cathode products and configurations for better CO2 reduction. Various techniques for improving the MES performance have been disclosed. Finally, the techno-economics, long-term feasibility, and commercialization of this for effective carbon dioxide reduction are discussed.