Integrated Production, Extraction, and Concentration of Acetic Acid from CO2 through Microbial Electrosynthesis

Using carbon dioxide for bioproduction combines decreased greenhouse gas emissions with a decreased dependence on fossil carbon for production of multicarbon products. Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) enables this, using renewable energy to drive the reduction of CO2 at the cathode of an electrochemical cell. To date, low product concentrations preclude cost-effective extraction during MES. Here we present an approach that couples production and recovery of acetate in a single, three-chamber reactor system. Acetate was produced at 61% Coulombic efficiency and fully recovered as an acidified stream containing up to 13.5 g L–1 (225 mM) acetic acid, the highest obtained thus far. In contrast to previous MES studies, a single separated acidic product was generated through in situ membrane electrolysis enabling further upgrading.