Premium
Cascade Reaction through Different Microorganisms for Electrochemical Oxidation of Ethanol
Author(s) -
Matsumoto Ryuhei,
Fujita Shuji,
Goto Yoshio
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemelectrochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.182
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 2196-0216
DOI - 10.1002/celc.201500327
Subject(s) - microorganism , chemistry , catalysis , bacteria , escherichia coli , faraday efficiency , ethanol , electrolysis , yield (engineering) , microbial electrolysis cell , electron transfer , electrochemistry , combinatorial chemistry , biochemistry , photochemistry , biology , materials science , electrolyte , genetics , electrode , gene , metallurgy
This paper demonstrates that an artificially constructed microbial community extracts 10.4 electrons of 12 electrons from an ethanol molecule, with 87 % coulombic efficiency of the complete oxidation under ambient temperature. Two separately cultured bacteria of Acetobacter aceti (A. aceti ) and Escherichia coli (E. coli ) are mixed in a micro‐electrolysis cell with an electron‐transfer mediator. The coulombic yield corresponds to the sum of ethanol oxidation with A. aceti and acetate oxidation with E. coli ; a microbial cascade reaction occurs within this system. When Gluconobacter oxydans (G. oxydans ) was employed instead of A. aceti , 8.4 electrons were extracted from one ethanol molecule. These microbial cascades show examples of highly efficient energy‐conversion systems. Our results suggest that combinations of microorganisms that do not coexist in nature would enable reactions that a single microorganism or an industrial catalyst has not ever established.