Microbial electrosynthesis: a novel strategy for flexible energy storage from electricity surplus and greenhouse gas

Energy storage and distribution is a particular concern for solar or wind energy within theexisting power grid infrastructure. This spurs the search for solutions to convert electrical energyproduced from these renewable sources to chemical compounds or liquid transportation fuels, whichcan readily be stored and consumed on demand or if necessary converted again to electricity.Microbial electrosynthesis (MES), the process in which microbes accept electrons from an electrodedirectly to reduce CO2 to chemical commodities such as biofuels, is a particularly attractive option totake advantage of the fluctuating electricity generated from renewable sources and to mitigate therelease of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Although MES is attracting a lot of attention and hasbeen studied intensively during the last five years, advances related to the engineering and the biologyof this process are required for pilot plant scale and commercialization. If MES reaches its fullpotential, it will serve as a highly flexible and tunable approach for the conversion of electrical energyinto chemical energy, generating valuable products especially from surplus electricity and CO2.