Researchers craft strategies for up-scaling of bioelectrochemical systems

An international team of researchers have developed strategies to scale up bioelectrochemical systems to maximize resource and energy recovery from organic waste matter, according to a press release by Korea Maritime and Ocean University.

Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) have recently emerged as a tool for recovering bioenergy and bio-resource from organic waste matter. This can help with long-term energy generation during wastewater treatment. METs, commonly expressed as bioelectrochemical systems (BES), offer maximum resource and energy recovery with minimum energy investment. However, there is currently a mismatch between expectations and actual progress in BES technologies due to a lack of reproducible and statistical data, which hinders their scalability and, in turn, commercialization.

With their findings published in Bioresource Technology, the researchers addressed the issue of BES scalability. The study was made available online on Sept. 10, 2022, and was published in Volume 363 of the journal on Nov. 1, 2022.

“For industrial applications, the scaling up of bioelectrochemical systems is an important concern before moving ahead with their commercialization,” says Dipak Jadhav from Korea Maritime and Ocean University. “Our study provides strategies that can be adopted to achieve this end. Such a technology will be a value addition for the recovery of resources including biohydrogen, electricity, industrial chemicals.”

On this front, a review of recent research revealed the need for a systematic rethinking of net energy recovery, resource yield, and current production, with a focus on sustainability and energy marketability, for the scaling-up of METs.

The most important need identified was the standardization of performance indices, which helps assess the performance of various BES. Additionally, the team proposed a single frame for normalization methods to allow for precise data comparison to existing treatments.

These technological implementations, the study suggests, will effectively address the existing concerns with BES. This, in turn, would help attract the business market, stakeholders, and investors, paving the way for their commercialization.

“We expect that, based on our highlighted strategies for up-scaling BES technologies, we can harness their potential for resource recovery by converting the chemical energy of wastewater into valuable resources during on-site treatment at an efficiency that is comparable with conventional methods,” concludes an optimistic Kyu-Jung Chae, professor at Korea Maritime and Ocean University.