MAPTech engineers from Prof Pascal Saikaly's team have created nickel-coated ceramic hollow-fiber membranes that speed up microbial electrosynthesis, letting CO₂-eating biofilms form in just one month and making acetate easier to harvest.
“A similar enrichment process for CO₂-eating biofilms could be achieved in microbial electrosynthesis systems,” explains postdoc Bin Bian.
The porous, conductive fibers deliver CO₂ and in-situ-generated hydrogen to chemolithoautotroph microbes, boosting carbon-to-acetate conversion and slashing the typical three-month startup time. Scale-up trials are underway to broaden the product slate beyond acetate and methane.