Artificial photosynthesis coupled with electricity generation - microbial fuel cells as artificial plants

Gajda, Iwona; Greenman, John; Stinchcombe, Andrew; Melhuish, Chris; Ieropoulos, Ioannis

Abstract

To meet the global goal of carbon reduction process there is a need to develop an artificial system that may act as an autonomous CO2 scrubber. This paper describes the direct electricity generation by the Microbial Fuel Cell with the simultaneous bioelectrosynthesis of active solution resulting in further carbon capture and storage. The microbial biotransformation of organic waste result in direct current that may be used to drive external circuitry of the system such as LED light, dc motor or a mobile phone while the synthesized product on situ recreate some aspect of chemically driven carbon capture. While the biotic biofilm anode portraits the ‘living engine’, the abiotic cathode simultaneously produces caustic agent that is able to fix CO2.

Citation

Gajda, I., Greenman, J., Stinchcombe, A., Melhuish, C., & Ieropoulos, I. (2014, July). Artificial photosynthesis coupled with electricity generation - microbial fuel cells as artificial plants. Paper presented at ALIFE 14: The Fourteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: ALIFE 14: The Fourteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems
• Start Date: Jul 30, 2014
• End Date: Aug 2, 2014
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2014
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: microbial fuel cell, carbon sink, artificial photosynthesis
• Publisher URL: http://alife14.org/
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : ALIFE 14: The Fourteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems