Microbial electrosynthesis of butyrate from carbon dioxide

This work proves for the first time the bioelectrochemical production of butyrate from CO2 as a sole carbon source. The highest concentration of butyrate achieved was 20.2 mMC, with a maximum butyrate production rate of 1.82 mMC d(-1). The electrochemical characterisation demonstrated that the CO2 reduction to butyrate was hydrogen driven. Production of ethanol and butanol was also observed opening up the potential for biofuel productionThe authors would like to thank the Spanish Ministry (Best-Energy, CTQ2011-23632) for its financial support in this study. LEQUIA has been recognised as a consolidated research group by the Catalan Government (2014-SGR-1168). R.G. gratefully acknowledges support from Beatriu de Pinos fellowship (BP-2011-B) and FP7 Marie Curie Career Integration Grants (PCIG13-GA-2013-618593). P.B.-V is supported by a project grant from the Catalan Government (2014 FI-B1 00119