scholarly journals Construction of an Acetate Metabolic Pathway to Enhance Electron Generation of Engineered Shewanella oneidensis

Author(s):  
Junqi Zhang ◽  
Zheng Chen ◽  
Changjiang Liu ◽  
Jianxun Li ◽  
Xingjuan An ◽  
...  

Background: Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a novel bioelectrochemical devices that can use exoelectrogens as biocatalyst to convert various organic wastes into electricity. Among them, acetate, a major component of industrial biological wastewater and by-product of lignocellulose degradation, could release eight electrons per mole when completely degraded into CO2 and H2O, which has been identified as a promising carbon source and electron donor. However, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, a famous facultative anaerobic exoelectrogens, only preferentially uses lactate as carbon source and electron donor and could hardly metabolize acetate in MFCs, which greatly limited Coulombic efficiency of MFCs and the capacity of bio-catalysis.Results: Here, to enable acetate as the sole carbon source and electron donor for electricity production in S. oneidensis, we successfully constructed three engineered S. oneidensis (named AceU1, AceU2, and AceU3) by assembling the succinyl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase (SCACT) metabolism pathways, including acetate coenzyme A transferase encoded by ato1 and ato2 gene from G. sulfurreducens and citrate synthase encoded by the gltA gene from S. oneidensis, which could successfully utilize acetate as carbon source under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Then, biochemical characterizations showed the engineered strain AceU3 generated a maximum power density of 8.3 ± 1.2 mW/m2 with acetate as the sole electron donor in MFCs. In addition, when further using lactate as the electron donor, the maximum power density obtained by AceU3 was 51.1 ± 3.1 mW/m2, which approximately 2.4-fold higher than that of wild type (WT). Besides, the Coulombic efficiency of AceU3 strain could reach 12.4% increased by 2.0-fold compared that of WT, which demonstrated that the engineered strain AceU3 can further utilize acetate as an electron donor to continuously generate electricity.Conclusion: In the present study, we first rationally designed S. oneidensis for enhancing the electron generation by using acetate as sole carbon source and electron donor. Based on synthetic biology strategies, modular assembly of acetate metabolic pathways could be further extended to other exoelectrogens to improve the Coulombic efficiency and broaden the spectrum of available carbon sources in MFCs for bioelectricity production.

Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (13) ◽  
pp. 2397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Azwan Jenol ◽  
Mohamad Faizal Ibrahim ◽  
Ezyana Kamal Bahrin ◽  
Seung Wook Kim ◽  
Suraini Abd-Aziz

Microbial fuel cells offer a technology for simultaneous biomass degradation and biological electricity generation. Microbial fuel cells have the ability to utilize a wide range of biomass including carbohydrates, such as starch. Sago hampas is a starchy biomass that has 58% starch content. With this significant amount of starch content in the sago hampas, it has a high potential to be utilized as a carbon source for the bioelectricity generation using microbial fuel cells by Clostridium beijerinckii SR1. The maximum power density obtained from 20 g/L of sago hampas was 73.8 mW/cm2 with stable cell voltage output of 211.7 mV. The total substrate consumed was 95.1% with the respect of 10.7% coulombic efficiency. The results obtained were almost comparable to the sago hampas hydrolysate with the maximum power density 56.5 mW/cm2. These results demonstrate the feasibility of solid biomass to be utilized for the power generation in fuel cells as well as high substrate degradation efficiency. Thus, this approach provides a promising way to exploit sago hampas for bioenergy generation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 4680-4684
Author(s):  
Dae-Hyeon Kwon ◽  
Jaebum Jeong ◽  
Yongju Lee ◽  
Jun-Kyu Park ◽  
Suwoong Lee ◽  
...  

Flexible triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have attracted much attention because of its environmentally friendly, practical, and cost-producing advantages. In flexible TENGs, it is important to study the flexible electrodes in order to fabricate the fully flexible devices. Here, we compared electrical characteristics of the sponge porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based flexible TENGs with two types of flexible electrodes, copper and carbon nanotube (CNT)-PDMS electrodes. The output voltage and maximum power density of sponge PDMS-based flexible TENGs with copper and CNTPDMS electrodes were compared. The voltage and power density of sponge PDMS-based flexible TENGs with CNT-PDMS electrodes were improved compare to those with copper electrodes. The output voltage and the maximum power density of sponge PDMS-based flexible TENGs with copper and CNT-PDMS electrodes increased 4 times and 7 times, respectively. It is attributed to higher electrical conductivity and stably flow electricity of CNT than those of copper.


2012 ◽  
Vol 724 ◽  
pp. 389-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Ibusuki ◽  
Yoshihiro Hirata ◽  
Soichiro Sameshima ◽  
Naoki Matsunaga

Cell performance was measured for four types of Ni (40 vol%)-Gd-doped ceria (GDC) anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells with GDC electrolyte (40-120 μm thickness) of Ce1-xGdxO2-x/2 compositions (x = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2) at 773-1073 K using a H2 fuel. (La0.8Sr0.2)(Co0.8Fe0.2)O3 cathode was printed on the GDC films. The open circuit voltage and maximum power density at 873-1073 K showed a maximum at x = 0.1. The maximum power density at x = 0.1 was 166 and 506 mW/cm2 at 873 and 1073 K, respectively. The excess oxygen vacancy at x = 0.1-0.2, which does not contribute to the oxide ion conductivity, reacts with a H2 fuel to form electrons (H2 + VO 2H+ + VO×, VO× VO + 2e-). This reaction reduces the cell performance.


Author(s):  
L Chen ◽  
J Zheng ◽  
F Sun ◽  
C Wu

The power density is taken as an objective for performance analysis of an irreversible closed Brayton cycle coupled to variable-temperature heat reservoirs. The analytical formulas about the relationship between power density and working fluid temperature ratio (pressure ratio) are derived with the heat resistance losses in the hot- and cold-side heat exchangers, the irreversible compression and expansion losses in the compressor and turbine, and the effect of the finite thermal capacity rate of the heat reservoirs. The obtained results are compared with those results obtained by using the maximum power criterion. The influences of some design parameters, including the temperature ratio of the heat reservoirs, the effectivenesses of the heat exchangers between the working fluid and the heat reservoirs, and the efficiencies of the compressor and the turbine, on the maximum power density are provided by numerical examples, and the advantages and disadvantages of maximum power density design are analysed. The power plant design with maximum power density leads to a higher efficiency and smaller size. When the heat transfers between the working fluid and the heat reservoirs are carried out ideally and the thermal capacity rates of the heat reservoirs are infinite, the results of this article become similar to those obtained in the recent literature.


2001 ◽  
Vol 08 (04) ◽  
pp. 377-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingen Chen ◽  
Junlin Zheng ◽  
Fengrui Sun ◽  
Chih Wu

In this paper, the power density, defined as the ratio of power output to the maximum specific volume in the cycle, is set as the objective for performance analysis of an irreversible, regenerated and closed Brayton cycle coupled to constant-temperature heat reservoirs from the viewpoint of finite time thermodynamics (FTT) or entropy generation minimization (EGM). The analytical formulae about the relations between power density and pressure ratio are derived with the heat resistance losses in the hot- and cold-side heat exchangers and the regenerator, the irreversible compression and expansion losses in the compressor and turbine, and the pressure loss in the pipe. The results obtained are compared with those obtained by using the maximum power criterion. The influences of some design parameters, including the effectiveness of the regenerator, the temperature ratio of heat reservoirs, the effectivenesses of heat exchangers between working fluid and heat reservoirs, the efficiencies of the compressor and the turbine, and the pressure recovery coefficient, on the maximum power density are illustrated by numerical examples, and advantages and disadvantages of maximum power density design are analyzed. When heat transfers between working fluid and heat reservoirs are carried out ideally, the results of this paper coincide with those obtained in recent literature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2504
Author(s):  
Junxian Shi ◽  
Anhuai Lu ◽  
Haibin Chu ◽  
Hongyu Wu ◽  
Hongrui Ding

Developing simple and cheap electrocatalysts or photocatalysts for cathodes to increase the oxygen reduction process is a key factor for better utilization of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Here, we report the investigation of natural wolframite employed as a low-cost cathode photocatalyst to improve the performance of MFCs. The semiconducting wolframite was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The band gap and photo respond activities were determined by UV-vis spectroscopy and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), respectively. Compared with the normal graphite cathode, when MFCs were equipped with a wolframite-coated cathode, the maximum power density was increased from 41.47 mW·m−2 to 95.51 mW·m−2. Notably, the maximum power density further improved to 135.57 mW·m−2 under light irradiation, which was 2.4 times higher than with a graphite cathode. Our research demonstrated that natural wolframite, a low-cost and abundant natural semiconducting mineral, showed promise as an effective photocathode catalyst which has great potential applications related to utilizing natural minerals in MFCs and for environmental remediation by MFCs in the future.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Klimov ◽  
Ilya Bakeev ◽  
Efim Oks ◽  
Aleksey Zenin

AbstractWe describe here the design, main parameters, and characteristics of a forevacuum-pressure plasma-cathode electron source based on a hollow-cathode discharge. The source generates a continuous focused electron beam with energy up to 30 keV and current up to 300 mA at a pressure of 10–50 Pa. The focused electron beam reaches a maximum power density of 106 W/cm2. The source utility has been demonstrated by its application for processing and cutting of ceramic.


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