Optimization of Bio-Electrochemical Systems

Abstract

The ongoing research in the sustainable energy sector has shown tremendous potential of microbes or electro-active biofilms (EABfs). These biofilms act as the important component of bioprocessing technologies that are based on bio-electrochemical systems (BESs). EABfs exhibit unique characteristics including redox reactions and resilience against otherwise harmful products that make BESs promising for important applications in energy recovery in the form of electricity or hydrogen or even production of fuels or chemicals from CO2. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms of EABfs characteristics is considered essential for the optimization of BESs for practical applications. To this end, a wide range of characterization techniques based on electrochemical, visual and chemical methods have been employed for the analyses of EABfs. These techniques can provide very valuable and wide-ranging information about EABfs that include performance, morphology and biofilm composition. Especially, significant attention has been paid to developing non-destructive visual techniques for EABfs characterization. The goal is to obtain in-situ information of EABfs functioning for industrial-scale development of BESs. Visual techniques are considered extremely useful for EABfs monitoring studies that can complement the information obtained with other characterization techniques. In this perspective, we have provided a short overview of various visual characterization techniques that have been proposed to study EABfs for the optimization of BESs.