Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a new technology that can recover energy from biomass with simultaneous waste treatment. This technique has been developed fast in recent years in combining with environmental techniques such as wastewater treatment, degradation of toxic pollutants and desalination. With the increase of solid waste, applying MFC in composting is promising due to its property of waste disposal with simultaneous energy generation. In this paper, the microbial community of MFCs during composting was summarized. Four major influencing factors including electrodes, separators, oxygen supplement and configurations on the performance of composting MFCs were discussed. The characteristics of composting MFC as a new technique for reducing solid waste were as follows: high microbial biomass resulted in the high current density; adaptable to different environmental conditions; self-adjustable temperature with high energy efficiency; the transportation of proton from anode to cathode were limited by different solid substrates.
Bioelectric Energy Sources ; microbiology ; trends ; Electricity ; Electrodes ; Refuse Disposal ; methods

Facing the increasingly severe energy shortage and environmental pollution, electrocatalytic processes using electroactive microorganisms provide a new alternative for achieving environmental-friendly production. Because of its unique respiratory mode and electron transfer ability, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 has been widely used in the fields of microbial fuel cell, bioelectrosynthesis of value-added chemicals, metal waste treatment and environmental remediation system. The electrochemically active biofilm of S. oneidensis MR-1 is an excellent carrier for transferring the electrons of the electroactive microorganisms. The formation of electrochemically active biofilm is a dynamic and complex process, which is affected by many factors, such as electrode materials, culture conditions, strains and their metabolism. The electrochemically active biofilm plays a very important role in enhancing bacterial environmental stress resistance, improving nutrient uptake and electron transfer efficiency. This paper reviewed the formation process, influencing factors and applications of S. oneidensis MR-1 biofilm in bio-energy, bioremediation and biosensing, with the aim to facilitate and expand its further application.
Bioelectric Energy Sources/microbiology* ; Biofilms ; Electrodes ; Electron Transport ; Shewanella/metabolism*

Bioenergy, as a renewable energy, is one of the best solutions to substitute part of fossil fuels. Based on the 6th World Bioenergy Symposium, this special issue includes latest reports and articles on the fields of bioethanol, biodiesel, microbial lipid, biofuel standard and aviation biofuels.
Bioelectric Energy Sources ; microbiology ; Biofuels ; microbiology ; Biotechnology ; instrumentation ; methods ; Ethanol ; isolation & purification ; metabolism

Biohydrogen production from corncob by dark fermentation was reported for the first time. The effects of the pretreatment condition, substrate concentration and initial pH on the hydrogen production were investigated in batch cultivations. The maximum hydrogen yield of 107.9 mL/g-TVS and hydrogen production rate of 4.2 mL/g-TVS .h(-) were obtained under the condition of 1% HCl pretreating substrate for 30 min, 10 g/L substrate concentration and initial pH8.0. The content of hemicellulose in corncob decreased significantly from 42.2% to 3.0% after HC1 pretreatment. The contents of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin in the acid pretreated corncob decreased slightly in hydrogen producing process. The results indicate that the acid pretreatment of the substrate plays a key role in the conversion of corncob into biohydrogen. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to study the changes in the corncob composition during the treatment of chemical-microbial process. It was shown that the amorphous domains of cellulose and hemicellulose were hydrolyzed into fermentable asccharides through HCl pretreatment and the microorganisms had a devastating effect on the crystallinitiy of the cellulose.
Anaerobiosis ; Bioelectric Energy Sources ; Bioreactors ; microbiology ; Fermentation ; Hydrogen ; metabolism ; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared ; Zea mays ; metabolism

Dissimilatory Metal Reduction Bacteria play an important role in the anaerobic environment. This kind of bacteria gains energy by coupling the oxidation of organic acid or sugars to the reduction of metal oxides. The graphite electrode rode can also be used as the final electron acceptor due to its similarity to solid metal oxides. Based on this biological mechanism, Dissimilatory Metal Reduction Bacteria Rhodoferaxferrireducens was used to construct a suit of microbial fuel cells with sugars as fuel, and the process and mechanism of electricity generation was studied. Rhodoferax ferrireducens was inoculated into the anode chamber in which a graphite electrode served as the final electron acceptor and glucose as the sole electron donor. It was showed that current density was up to 158mA/m2 with the resistance of 510omega at the normal temperature (platform voltage was around 0.46V, the effectual electrode surface was 57cm2). Following 20days' growth a large amount of bacteria cells attached to the electrode surface had been observed through the SEM images. The plandtonic cell protein concentration was 140mg/L and the attached biomass of electrode surface was 1180mg/m2 determined by the Bradford method, which indicated quite a few bacteria attached to the electrode. By analyzing the voltage value measured by the data acquisition system, it was proved that microbial electricity generation attributed mainly to the electrochemically and biologically active cells attached to the electrode, while the planktonic cells had no ability to catalyze electricity generation and almost had not electrochemically and biologically active. Furthermore, this kind of microbial fuel cells exhibited a good electrochemical cycle property and proved to be efficient in biomass utilization and energy restore since other sugars like fructose, sucrose, even xylose, could be oxidized and finally decomposed. Vast waste biomass in the form of carbohydrates is discarded in the environment. Not only is contamination of the environment caused by the discarded biomass, but also abundant energy stored in the biomass is drained away in vain. The sugar-based microbial fuel cells constructed by Rhodoferax ferrireducens could effectively transform the energy stored in sugars into electricity. Meanwhile, the microbial fuel cells presented in this paper, which could work cleanly at normal temperature with a good cycle property, showed a promising future application in this field.
Bioelectric Energy Sources ; microbiology ; Comamonadaceae ; metabolism ; Electricity ; Electron Transport ; Equipment Failure ; Glucose ; metabolism ; Oxidation-Reduction

Lipase-mediated biodiesel production becomes increasingly important because of mild reaction conditions, pollution free during the process and easy product separation. Compared with traditional immobilized lipase, whole cell biocatalyst is promising for biodiesel production because it is easy to prepare and has higher enzyme activity recovery. Rhizopus oryzae IFO4697 can be used as the catalyst for biodiesel production. To further study the stability of the whole cell biocatalyst is extremely important for its further application on large scale. This paper focuses on the stability study of Rhizopus oryzae IFO4697 when used for the methanolysis of renewable oils for biodiesel production. The results showed that water content was important for achieving high catalytic activity and good stability of the biocatalyst. The optimum water content was found to be 5%-15%. Both particle size and desiccation methods showed no obvious effect on the stability of the biocatalyst. With GA cross-linking pretreatment, the stability of the biocatalyst could be improved significantly. When Rhizopus oryzae IFO4697 repeatedly used for next batch reaction, direct vacuum filtration was found to be a good way for the maintenance of good stability of the biocatalyst. Under the optimum reaction conditions, the methyl ester yield could keep over 80% during 20 repeated reaction batches.
Biocatalysis ; Bioelectric Energy Sources ; microbiology ; Biofuels ; Cells, Immobilized ; metabolism ; Lipase ; metabolism ; Rhizopus ; metabolism ; Soybean Oil ; metabolism

The background and the importance of developing industrial biotechnology were illustrated, followed by a brief analysis on the driving effect of genomics and functional genomics. Seventeen papers covering metabolic engineering, fermentation engineering, industrial enzymes and biocatalysis are published in this special issue. These papers were briefly introduced to show the most recent developments of industrial biotechnology.
Biocatalysis ; Bioelectric Energy Sources ; Biotechnology ; methods ; trends ; Genetic Engineering ; methods ; Genomics ; methods ; Industrial Microbiology ; methods

Hydrogen production from lignocellulosic biomass is both sustainable and environmentally friendly, which is garnering more and more attention across the world, with an expectation to challenge the shortage of fossil fuels supply and climate change as well. In this article, the update research progress and technology development of biohydrogen production are reviewed, with a focus on biomass pretreatment, hydrogen-producing microorganisms and process engineering strategies. And in the meantime, a roadmap for more efficient and economic biohydrogen production is envisioned.
Bacteria ; metabolism ; Bioelectric Energy Sources ; microbiology ; trends ; Biomass ; Biotransformation ; Fermentation ; Hydrogen ; metabolism ; Lignin ; metabolism

Dwindling supplies of conventional energy sources and the demand to increase the share of renewable energy for sustainability have increased the significance of biogas, the product of synergistic fermentation of biodegrable organic wastes from municipal, agricultural and industrial activities by microbial populations under anaerobic conditions. With extensive research and engineering practice, many technologies and modes have been developed for biogas production and application. Currently, the most widely used mode is the complete-mixing mesophilic fermentation. Europe, especially Germany, is leading the world in the combined heat and power production (CHP) from biogas. In this paper, updated progress in biogas technologies is reviewed, with focuses on anaerobic microorganisms, bioreactor configurations and process development, biogas production and applications, in which perspectives of biogas as a clean and renewable energy are projected.
Bacteria, Anaerobic ; metabolism ; physiology ; Biodegradation, Environmental ; Bioelectric Energy Sources ; microbiology ; trends ; Biofuels ; microbiology ; Fermentation ; Industrial Microbiology ; trends ; Refuse Disposal ; methods

The massive water and steam are consumed in the production of cellulose ethanol, which correspondingly results in the significant increase of energy cost, waster water discharge and production cost as well. In this study, the process strategy under extremely low water usage and high solids loading of corn stover was investigated experimentally and computationally. The novel pretreatment technology with zero waste water discharge was developed; in which a unique biodetoxification method using a kerosene fungus strain Amorphotheca resinae ZN1 to degrade the lignocellulose derived inhibitors was applied. With high solids loading of pretreated corn stover, high ethanol titer was achieved in the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process, and the scale-up principles were studied. Furthermore, the flowsheet simulation of the whole process was carried out with the Aspen plus based physical database, and the integrated process developed was tested in the biorefinery mini-plant. Finally, the core technologies were applied in the cellulose ethanol demonstration plant, which paved a way for the establishment of an energy saving and environment friendly technology of lignocellulose biotransformation with industry application potential.
Bioelectric Energy Sources ; economics ; Biofuels ; analysis ; Biotransformation ; Ethanol ; analysis ; metabolism ; Fungi ; metabolism ; Industrial Microbiology ; methods ; Lignin ; metabolism ; Steam ; Water ; analysis