Bioplastic Production from the Microbial Electrosynthesis of Acetate through CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction
Kang Zhang, Yonghang Zhou, Tian‐shun Song, Jingjing Xie
Abstract
Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is an emerging technology that uses electricity and biocatalysts to reduce CO2 and produce organic commodities. To improve the added value of MES products, we used the MES product of Ralstonia eutropha to generate polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a type of bioplastic. The first step was to generate a certain concentration of acetate in MES. The second step was to use acetate at the concentration produced by MES as a substrate for PHB generation by R. eutropha. Simultaneously, we compared the effects of acetate produced by double-chamber and triple-chamber MES reactors on PHB production. Lastly, 0.460 g/L PHB was produced ex situ from 5 g/L acetate in the triple-chamber MES reactor by R. eutropha. This PHB yield was the highest among all of the experimental groups. In MES, the composition and salinity of a product will affect the synthesis of PHB. This study provides a method for generating bioplastics using products from the bioelectrochemical reduction of CO2.