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A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidizing agent into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requiring a continuous source of fuel and oxygen to sustain the chemical reaction, whereas in a battery the chemical energy usually comes from metals and their ions or oxides that are commonly already present in the battery, except in flow batteries. Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are supplied.
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from naturally occurring sources such as ores using an electrolytic cell. The voltage that is needed for electrolysis to occur is called the decomposition potential. The word "lysis" means to separate or break, so in terms, electrolysis would mean "breakdown via electricity".
Redox is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change.
The methanol economy is a suggested future economy in which methanol and dimethyl ether replace fossil fuels as a means of energy storage, ground transportation fuel, and raw material for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products. It offers an alternative to the proposed hydrogen economy or ethanol economy, though these concepts are not exclusive.
Electrolysis of water, also known as electrochemical water splitting, is the process of using electricity to decompose water into oxygen and hydrogen gas by a process called electrolysis. Hydrogen gas released in this way can be used as hydrogen fuel, or remixed with the oxygen to create oxyhydrogen gas, which is used in welding and other applications.
Hydrogen production is the family of industrial methods for generating hydrogen gas. As of 2020, the majority of hydrogen (∼95%) is produced from fossil fuels by steam reforming of natural gas and other light hydrocarbons, partial oxidation of heavier hydrocarbons, and coal gasification. Other methods of hydrogen production include biomass gasification, zero-CO2-emission methane pyrolysis, and electrolysis of water. The latter processes, methane pyrolysis as well as water electrolysis can be done directly with any source of electricity, such as solar power.
Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a type of bioelectrochemical fuel cell system that generates electric current by diverting electrons produced from the microbial oxidation of reduced compounds on the anode to oxidized compounds such as oxygen on the cathode through an external electrical circuit. MFCs can be grouped into two general categories: mediated and unmediated. The first MFCs, demonstrated in the early 20th century, used a mediator: a chemical that transfers electrons from the bacteria in the cell to the anode. Unmediated MFCs emerged in the 1970s; in this type of MFC the bacteria typically have electrochemically active redox proteins such as cytochromes on their outer membrane that can transfer electrons directly to the anode. In the 21st century MFCs have started to find commercial use in wastewater treatment.
Electrosynthesis in chemistry is the synthesis of chemical compounds in an electrochemical cell. Compared to ordinary redox reaction, electrosynthesis sometimes offers improved selectivity and yields. Electrosynthesis is actively studied as a science and also has industrial applications. Electrooxidation has potential for wastewater treatment as well.
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An electrocatalyst is a catalyst that participates in electrochemical reactions. Electrocatalysts are a specific form of catalysts that function at electrode surfaces or, most commonly, may be the electrode surface itself. An electrocatalyst can be heterogeneous such as a platinized electrode. Homogeneous electrocatalysts, which are soluble, assist in transferring electrons between the electrode and reactants, and/or facilitate an intermediate chemical transformation described by an overall half reaction. Major challenges in electrocatalysts focus on fuel cells.
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A Bioelectrochemical reactor is a type of bioreactor where bioelectrochemical processes are used to degrade/produce organic materials using microorganisms. This bioreactor has two compartments: The anode, where the oxidation reaction takes place; And the cathode, where the reduction occurs. At these sites, electrons are passed to and from microbes to power reduction of protons, breakdown of organic waste, or other desired processes. They are used in microbial electrosynthesis, environmental remediation, and electrochemical energy conversion. Examples of bioelectrochemical reactors include microbial electrolysis cells, microbial fuel cells, enzymatic biofuel cells, electrolysis cells, microbial electrosynthesis cells, and biobatteries.
Electrofuels, also known as e-fuels or synthetic fuels, are a type of drop-in replacement fuel. They are manufactured using captured carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, together with hydrogen obtained from sustainable electricity sources such as wind, solar and nuclear power.
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Biological photovoltaics (BPV) is an energy-generating technology which uses oxygenic photoautotrophic organisms, or fractions thereof, to harvest light energy and produce electrical power. Biological photovoltaic devices are a type of biological electrochemical system, or microbial fuel cell, and are sometimes also called photo-microbial fuel cells or “living solar cells”. In a biological photovoltaic system, electrons generated by photolysis of water are transferred to an anode. A relatively high-potential reaction takes place at the cathode, and the resulting potential difference drives current through an external circuit to do useful work. It is hoped that using a living organism as the light harvesting material, will make biological photovoltaics a cost-effective alternative to synthetic light-energy-transduction technologies such as silicon-based photovoltaics.
A sugar battery is an emerging type of biobattery that is fueled by maltodextrin and facilitated by the enzymatic catalysts.
Microbial electrolysis carbon capture (MECC) is a carbon capture technique using microbial electrolysis cells during wastewater treatment. MECC results in net negative carbon emission wastewater treatment by removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) during the treatment process in the form of calcite (CaCO3), and production of profitable H2 gas.
Formatotrophs are organisms that can assimilate formate or formic acid to use as a carbon source or for reducing power. Some authors classify formatotrophs as one of the five trophic groups of methanogens, which also include hydrogenotrophs, acetotrophs, methylotrophs, and alcoholotrophs. Formatotrophs have garnered attention for applications in biotechnology as part of a "formate bioeconomy" in which synthesized formate could be used as a nutrient for microoganisms. Formate can be electrochemically synthesized from CO2 and renewable energy, and formatotrophs may be genetically modified to enhance production of biochemical products to be used as biofuels. Technical limitations in culturing formatotrophs have limited the discovery of natural formatotrophs and impeded research on their formate-metabolizing enzymes, which are of interest for applications in carbon sequestration and astrobiology.
References
- ↑ Nevin KP, Woodard TL, Franks AE, Summers ZM, Lovley DR (May 2010). "Microbial electrosynthesis: feeding microbes electricity to convert carbon dioxide and water to multicarbon extracellular organic compounds". mBio. 1 (2). doi:10.1128/mBio.00103-10. PMC 2921159 . PMID 20714445.
- ↑ "Microbial Electrolysis Cell - Turning Bacteria Into Hydrogen Machines". Scientific Blogging. 13 November 2007.
- ↑ Moscoviz R, Trably E, Bernet N, Carrère H (2018-07-16). "The environmental biorefinery: state-of-the-art on the production of hydrogen and value-added biomolecules in mixed-culture fermentation". Green Chemistry. 20 (14): 3159–3179. doi:10.1039/C8GC00572A.
- ↑ Tian JH, Lacroix R, Desmond-Le Quéméner E, Bureau C, Midoux C, Bouchez T (16 April 2019). "Upscaling of Microbial Electrolysis Cell Integrating Microbial Electrosynthesis: Insights, Challenges and Perspectives". bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/609909 .
- ↑ Schmitz S, Nies S, Wierckx N, Blank LM, Rosenbaum MA (2015). "Engineering mediator-based electroactivity in the obligate aerobic bacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440". Frontiers in Microbiology. 6: 284. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00284 . PMC 4392322 . PMID 25914687.
- ↑ Rabaey K, Rozendal RA (October 2010). "Microbial electrosynthesis - revisiting the electrical route for microbial production". Nature Reviews. Microbiology. 8 (10): 706–16. doi:10.1038/nrmicro2422. PMID 20844557. S2CID 11417035.
- ↑ Strik DP (May 29, 2017). "Open Mind Award for a revolutionary idea". Wageningen University & Research.
- ↑ "David Strik's "dark photosynthesis" idea receiving Open Mind Award". NWO.
- ↑ Sikkema A (November 29, 2016). "Producing food without sunlight". Resource. Wageningen University & Research.