DECHEMA Research Institute, Sustainable Electrochemistry, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Institute of Bioprocess Engineering and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Applied Sciences Mittelhessen, Giessen, Germany.
Biotechnol Bioeng. 2023 Jun;120(6):1465-1477. doi: 10.1002/bit.28383. Epub 2023 Mar 27.
The transition of today's fossil fuel based chemical industry toward sustainable production requires improvement of established production processes as well as development of new sustainable and bio-based synthesis routes within a circular economy. Thereby, the combination of electrochemical and biotechnological advantages in such routes represents one important keystone. For the electrochemical generation of reactants from gaseous substrates such as O or CO , gas diffusion electrodes (GDE) represent the electrodes of choice since they overcome solubility-based mass transport limitations. Within this article, we illustrate the architecture, function principle and fabrication of GDE. We highlight the application of GDE for conversion of CO using abiotic catalysts for subsequent biosynthesis as well as the application of microbial catalysts at GDE for CO conversion. The reduction of oxygen at GDE is summarized for the application of oxygen depolarized cathodes in microbial fuel cells and generation of H O to drive enzymatic reactions. Finally, engineering aspects such as scale-up and the modeling of GDE-based processes are described. This review presents an update on the application of GDE in bio-based production systems and emphasizes their large potential for sustainable development of new pathways in bioeconomy.
当今基于化石燃料的化学工业向可持续生产的转变需要改进现有的生产工艺，并在循环经济中开发新的可持续和基于生物的合成途径。因此，在这些途径中结合电化学和生物技术的优势是一个重要的关键。对于从气态底物（如 O 或 CO ）电化学生成反应物，气体扩散电极（GDE）是首选电极，因为它们克服了基于溶解度的传质限制。在本文中，我们说明了 GDE 的结构、功能原理和制造。我们强调了 GDE 在使用非生物催化剂将 CO 转化为随后的生物合成以及在 GDE 上使用微生物催化剂将 CO 转化方面的应用。总结了 GDE 用于微生物燃料电池中氧去极化阴极的应用以及产生 H O 以驱动酶反应的情况。最后，描述了工程方面，如放大和基于 GDE 的工艺的建模。本综述介绍了 GDE 在基于生物的生产系统中的应用的最新进展，并强调了它们在可持续发展生物经济中新途径方面的巨大潜力。
