Uti­liza­ti­on of CO2 th­rough novel Bio­Elec­tro­Ca­tho­de sys­tems for pro­duc­tion of bio­fu­els (CH4 and etha­nol) - Bio­Elec­tro­Ca­tho­de

Pro­ject sum­ma­ry

Bio­Elec­tro­Ca­tho­de pro­ject aims to bring in­no­va­ti­on on bio­lo­gi­cal elec­tro­syn­the­sis bio­ca­ta­lysts th­rough: a) the ma­nu­fac­tu­re of novel ca­tho­des, b) the ma­nu­fac­tu­re of a 3D bio­lo­gi­cal elec­tro­syn­the­sis baf­f­le re­ac­tor that can trans­form CO2 to CH4 and/or CO2 to etha­nol. The pro­ject starts from a TRL bet­ween 2-3 and by the end of the pro­ject aims to reach TRL 5. Bio­Elec­tro­Ca­tho­de pro­ject will help in sol­ving three main chal­len­ges of the con­tem­pora­ry en­er­gy sys­tems: power sto­rage, grid sta­bi­li­ty and CO2 emis­si­ons. Electri­ci­ty can be sup­plied for the power of the ca­tho­de in the Mi­cro­bi­al Elec­tro­syn­the­sis Baf­f­le Re­ac­tor and it can con­vert CO2 into CH4 and/or CO2 into etha­nol. The methane-​rich bio­gas (bio­me­tha­ne) or etha­nol can be stored, dis­tri­bu­t­ed and uti­li­zed as a fuel in vehi­cles com­pa­ti­ble to na­tu­ral gas. The pro­po­sed tech­no­lo­gy can be used in bio­gas plants (in Eu­ro­pe there are more than 12,400 bio­gas plants) or in in­dus­tries that ge­ne­ra­te high amounts of CO2.