Electricity generation and ethanol production using iron-reducing, haloalkaliphilic bacteria

Microbial life in extreme environments has been studied primarily for their metabolic activities. Very few commercial or industrial applications have been known from these systems. In this study, the metabolic pathways and properties of bacteria from a haloalkaliphilic environment of Soap Lake, Washington were employed in two research applications related to energy production. In the first study, the bacterial cultures that were known to reduce iron (III) were used in a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) reactor. Iron reducing bacteria have shown to shunt their electrons on to the surface of a carbon electrode of an MFC, and the electrons can be harvested to produce current...The second study focused on applying the fermentative mechanism of the bacterial cultures from Soap Lake. Bacteria were found to use glycerol as the substrate and ferment it to ethanol. Glycerol is a major by-product of biodiesel industry and therefore bacterial fermentation of this glycerol to ethanol would help to manage the waste as well as produce a value-added product --Abstract, page iv