Feasibility Assessment Upon Applications of Bioenergy-steered Biorefinery with Supplementation of Extracts of Chinese Medicinal Herbs

Abstract

For thousands of years, toxicity risk assessment on Chinese medicinal herbs showed that they are generally regarded as safe at appropriate dosages. Literature revealed that medical mechanism for human health could be associated with abundant compositions of antioxidants (e.g., polyphenolics and flavonoids). As a matter of fact, some studies disclosed such bioelectrochemical characteristics also strongly depended upon contents of antioxidants. That is, Chinese medicinal herbs contained significant amounts of electron transfer (ET)-associated antioxidants for myriads of uses. As prior studies revealed, decolorized intermediates owned promising ET capabilities; however, such intermediates were originally obtained from artificially synthesized chemicals and could not be considered as environmentally friendly. Thus, using edible medicinal herbs for bioenergy and/or biorefinery applications would be inevitable. This first-attempt study explored technical feasibility using microbial fuel cell-aided wastewater treatment (e.g., the association of antioxidants and dye decolorization and power generation) as evaluation platform. The findings indicated that some Chinese medicinal herbs apparently showed electrochemical capabilities not only antioxdidant activities, but also ET characteristics for sustainable development. In addition, ET capabilities were strongly affected by pH, temperature, dosage and method of extraction. Moreover, extracts of medicinal herbs owned moderate ET capabilities relatively less than tea extracts for bioenergy applications not only in bioremediation, but also functional foods.