https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology/pdf/S0167-7799(05)00092-2.pdf

Microbial fuel cells: novel biotechnology for energy generation

A state of the art review on microbial fuel cells: A promising technology for wastewater treatment and bioenergy.

Outlook for cellulase improvement: screening and selection strategies.

Microbial electrocatalysis relies on microorganisms as catalysts for reactions occurring at electrodes. Microbial fuel cells and microbial electrolysis cells are well known in this context; both use microorganisms to oxidize organic or inorganic matter at an anode to generate electrical power or H(2), respectively. The discovery that electrical current can also drive microbial metabolism has recently lead to a plethora of other applications in bioremediation and in the production of fuels and chemicals. Notably, the microbial production of chemicals, called microbial electrosynthesis, provides a highly attractive, novel route for the generation of valuable products from electricity or even wastewater. This Review addresses the principles, challenges and opportunities of microbial electrosynthesis, an exciting new discipline at the nexus of microbiology and electrochemistry.

Microbial electrosynthesis — revisiting the electrical route for microbial production

It is well established that some reduced fermentation products or microbially reduced artificial mediators can abiotically react with electrodes to yield a small electrical current. This type of metabolism does not typically result in an efficient conversion of organic compounds to electricity because only some metabolic end products will react with electrodes, and the microorganisms only incompletely oxidize their organic fuels. A new form of microbial respiration has recently been discovered in which microorganisms conserve energy to support growth by oxidizing organic compounds to carbon dioxide with direct quantitative electron transfer to electrodes. These organisms, termed electricigens, offer the possibility of efficiently converting organic compounds into electricity in self-sustaining systems with long-term stability.

Bug juice: harvesting electricity with microorganisms

https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology/pdf/S0167-7799(04)00193-3.pdf

Rosa Domíguez-Espinosa

Papers

Production of bioenergy and biochemicals from industrial and agricultural wastewater.