A genetic approach for microbial electrosynthesis system as biocommodities production platform.

Microbial electrosynthesis is a process that can produce biocommodities from the reduction of substrates with microbial catalysts and an external electron supply. This process is expected to become a new application of a cell factory for novel chemical production, wastewater treatment, and carbon capture and utilization. However, microbial electrosynthesis is still subject to several problems that need to be overcome for commercialization, so continuous development such as metabolic engineering is essential. The development of microbial electrosynthesis can open up new opportunities for sustainable biocommodities production platforms. This review provides significant information on the current state of MES development, focusing on extracellularly electron transfer and metabolic engineering.

Biological carbon monoxide conversion to acetate production by mixed culture.

To utilize waste CO for mixed culture gas fermentation, carbon sources (CO, CO2) and pH were optimized in the batch system to find out the center point and boundary of response surface method (RSM) for higher acetate (HAc) production (center points: 25% CO, 40% CO2, and pH 8). The concentrations of CO and CO2, and pH had significant effects on acetate production, but the pH was the most significant on the HAc production. The optimum condition for HAc production in the gas fermentation was 20.81% CO, 41.38% CO2, 37.81% N2, and pH 7.18. The continuous gas fermentation under the optimum condition obtained 1.66g/L of cell DW, 23.6g/L HAc, 3.11g/L propionate, and 3.42g/L ethanol.

Two stage leaching of activated spent HDS catalyst and solvent extraction of aluminium using organo-phosphinic extractant, Cyanex 272.

Spent catalyst generally contains valuable metals like Mo, Co, Ni on a supporting material, such as gamma-A1(2)O(3). In the present study, a two stage alkali/acid leaching process is proposed to selectively target molybdenum and cobalt/nickel separately to facilitate the downstream processing. Prior to the leaching, the spent catalyst was calcined at 500 degrees C to remove C and S; and to convert metal sulphides to metal oxides. 98% Mo, 93% Co and 90% Ni was effectively recovered by this process. The sulphuric acid leaching of spent catalyst, previously treated by alkali solutions to remove Mo, yielded a solution rich in Ni, Co and Al. In order to recover Co and Ni, the Al impurity must be eliminated. The extraction and stripping of Al has been carried out using the organo-phosphinic extractant, Cyanex 272 diluted in carbon tetrachloride. Quantitative Al extraction efficiency was achieved with 1.0M Cyanex 272 in two stages at an aqueous:organic (A:O) phase ratio of 1:1 and equilibrium pH of 3.2. Complete stripping of Al from the loaded organic was carried out using 2M H(2)SO(4) at an A:O phase ratio of 1:1. The extraction reaction proceeded via the cation exchange mechanism and the extracted species was assumed to be AlA(3).3HA. The extraction of Al was carried out in the presence of various ions to ascertain the tolerance limit of individual ions. The regenerated solvent was successfully used for 8 cycles without any significant loss of extraction efficiency, suggesting that Cyanex 272 is extremely stable under present experimental conditions.