Bioelectrosynthesis of organic compounds

Inactive Publication Date: 2019-10-03
MUSC FOUND FOR RES DEV
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method for producing organic compounds using a microbial population in a cathode chamber of an electrochemical cell. The method involves maintaining the microbial population in the cathode chamber in the presence of a constant current, a constant pH, and a constant flow of media nutrients. The microbial population can be maintained for at least 10 days, and the method can produce organic compounds continuously or intermittently. The produced organic compounds can be collected periodically or continuously. The method can also involve flushing the cathode chamber with CO2 or supplying bicarbonate periodically. The microbial population can comprise bacteria from various families, such as Eubaceriaceae, Campylobacteraceae, Helicobacteraceae, Porphyromonadaceae, WCHB1-69, Spirochaetaceae, Deferribacteraceae, Rhodobacteraceae, Synergistaceae, and Rhodocyclaceae. The method can also use a specific growth media that does not contain yeast extract or a reducing agent. The cathode can be made of reticulated vitreous carbon, carbon paper, carbon cloth, carbon felt, carbon wool, carbon foam, or graph.

Problems solved by technology

However, due to supply difficulties, the inevitable decline of these resources, increased world demand and environmental concerns, a shift away from coal and oil to alternatives such as solar and wind is occurring.
However, most of these energy sources are either limited by fluctuations in price and availability or are nonrenewable as in the case of natural gas.
Photosynthetic capture of CO2 and conversion into advanced biofuels, directly or following the processing of lignocellulosic plant biomass, is possible but has not yet become economically achievable due to technical limitations.

Method used

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  • Bioelectrosynthesis of organic compounds
  • Bioelectrosynthesis of organic compounds
  • Bioelectrosynthesis of organic compounds

Examples

Experimental program
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example 1

and Methods

[0061]Electrochemical Reactor. The anode compartment consisted of a polypropylene spacer and a mixed metal oxide (IrO2 / Ta2O5) catalyzed titanium anode (MMO) (Magneto, NL). The analyte was 80 mL of 50 mM sodium sulfate acidified with sulfuric acid to pH=2. The cathode was a 45 ppi reticulated vitreous carbon foam (KR Reynolds Company, CA), 0.6×6×8 cm. It was pretreated in 2 N nitric acid and rinsed thoroughly with MilliQ water. It was then attached to a 6×6 mesh, 0.35 in diameter 316L stainless steel mesh (6×8 cm) that was coated with a conductive carbon glue (Ted Pella Inc., CA) that was thinned with 1:1 acetone. Two applications were coated onto the mesh before the same glue was used to attach the RVC foam. Custom machined polypropylene spacers were used with customized Viton gaskets to sandwich a cation exchange membrane between the electrodes with a 316L stainless steel endplate and a poly(methyl methacrylate) cathode viewing plate held together by stainless steel nuts...

example 2

[0067]Biomass Growth.

[0068]The initial inoculum resulted in an optical density (OD600 nm) of 0.340±0.010 (n=3) within the cathode chamber of three inoculated reactors (FIG. 2). The continuous flow of media through the reactors, and perhaps adsorption of biomass to the electrode surface, drove the OD600 nm down by more than an order of magnitude. However, shortly after that the OD600 nm began to steadily increase and eventually remained near or above 0.1 within the reactors, indicating a constant production of bacterial cells including those that remained planktonic and washed away with the effluent. Colonization of the unmodified cathode surface with yellow and off-white biomaterial became apparent within a week of inoculation and continued to grow through the end of the experiment (FIG. 3). The inoculum is dominated by Acetobacterium sp. (LaBelle 2014). The surface of the electrode and the interstitial space within the honeycomb structure became heavily populated as the experiment ...

example 3

Production of Long-Chain Hydrocarbons from Green Microalga Using an Acetate-Fed System

[0074]Green microalga, Botryococcus braunii, can be used to convert electrosynthetic acetate into liquid hydrocarbons. This alga is capable of growing on acetate and producing liquid hydrocarbons (C21+) at up to 86% per cell dry weight (10 g / L cell density, μ=0.1 h−1). Botryococcus naturally secretes hydrocarbons outside the cell and stores hydrocarbons in the extracellular matrix where cells are connected to form colonies. The secreted hydrocarbons can be recovered through short contact with solvent. This process does not impair hydrocarbon yield of subsequent cultures, allowing continuous cultivation and milking of B. braunii for hydrocarbon production without major increase in cell biomass. To further increase cell yield and hydrocarbon production, B. braunii mutants generated through chemical mutagenesis will be adapted and screened on the acetate-containing medium for mutants with improved phe...

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Abstract

In some aspects, the present disclosure provides a method of bioelectric production of organic compounds such as acetate. In further aspects, the present disclosure also provides methods of producing a hydrocarbon based fuel using C02 as the carbon source.

Description

[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 416,894, filed Nov. 3, 2016, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.[0002]The invention was made with government support under Grant No. N00014-15-2219 awarded by the United States Office of Naval Research. The government has certain rights in the invention.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates generally to the fields of electrochemical synthesis and microbiology. More particularly, it concerns methods for producing organic compounds, such as acetate, by bioelectric synthesis.2. Description of Related Art[0004]World economies, in particular that of the U.S., are heavily reliant on the use of fossil-based carbon to produce many commodity chemicals and fuels. However, due to supply difficulties, the inevitable decline of these resources, increased world demand and environmental concerns, a shift away from coal and oil to alternati...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): C25B3/04C25B9/06C25B3/25C25B9/17
CPCC25B3/04C25B9/06C12N1/20C12N1/36C12P7/54Y02E50/30C25B3/25C25B9/17
InventorMAY, HAROLD D.LABELLE, EDWARD V.
OwnerMUSC FOUND FOR RES DEV