title: Electrobiocommodities: powering microbial production of fuels and commodity chemicals from carbon dioxide with electricity.
abstract: Electricity can be an energy source for microbially catalyzed production of fuels and other organic commodities from carbon dioxide. These electrobiocommodities (E-BCs) can be produced directly via electrode-to-microbe electron transfer or indirectly with electrochemically generated electron donors such as H2 or formate. Producing E-BCs may be a more efficient and environmentally sustainable strategy for converting solar energy to biocommodities than approaches that rely on biological photosynthesis. A diversity of microbial physiologies could potentially be adapted for E-BC production, but to date acetogenic microorganisms are the only organisms shown to covert electrically generated low potential electrons and carbon dioxide into multi-carbon organic products with high recovery of electrons in product. Substantial research and development will be required for E-BC commercialization.
authors: Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA. dlovley@microbio.umass.edu
authors: Derek R
authors: DR
authors: Lovley
authors: Kelly P
authors: KP
authors: Nevin
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D019069:Cell Respiration; D002617:Chemical Industry / Q000379:methods*; D004560:Electricity; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism; D008829:Microbiology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D059205:Renewable Energy
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D008697:Methane; D010100:Oxygen