Development of membrane bioreactor for conversion of flue Gas-CO2 to C1 and C2 biomolecules

Abstract

The capture and utilization of CO2 (CCU) from flue gases constitute a novel carbon feedstock for producing renewable chemicals and fuels. To lower the energy demand of CCU, Bio-Integrated Carbon Capture and Utilization (BICCU) was recently presented, where CO2-consuming microorganisms simultaneously desorb and convert CO2 captured from flue gas by methyl diethanolamine (MDEA) with H2 from water-electrolysis as the electron donor. The limiting factor is the microbial toxicity of MDEA, which restricts the capacity of the process. Furthermore, producing soluble molecules like the C2 platform molecule acetate is not possible without contaminating the product with capture agent. To resolve both challenges, we here propose a three-phase membrane system, where the MDEA and microorganisms are separated by a CO2-permeable membrane. Biological batch experiments with a mixed mesophilic culture confirmed the increased capacity of the BICCU-process for producing both methane and acetate when introducing a CO2-permeable membrane to the system to alleviate microbial inhibition by the capture agent and avoid contamination of soluble bioproducts. When using O2-rich flue gas from a biogas combustion engine, the CO2 conversion rate decreased by 18.0 % compared to a clean 20:80 CO2:N2 gas mixture, yet anaerobic metabolisms were still active in the mixed inoculum. Abiotic experiments furthermore showed that the microbial CO2 consumption maintained the gradient across the membrane and enhanced the CO2-flux by a factor of 3.1 ± 0.3. The membrane-based BICCU concept is expected to hold great promise particularly for producing acetate from flue gas-CO2, as the in situ separation eliminates the need for costly downstream separation.