The low-pH fermentation processes naturally shifts to low pH regime (~4.3) and high reactor pressure1. Both these conditions are known to enhance the hydrolysis of both particulate organic matter and recalcitrant cellulosic substrates. It is therefore advantageous to couple these processes with emerging bioelectrochemical processes. For example, the use of fermented effluent (pH&lt;4.3) offers the following advantages to microbial fuel cell operations: i) prevents methane production; ii) increases the pH gradient between anode and cathode; iii) promotes proton transport through cation exchange membranes (e.g., the pKa for protonated perfluorinated sulfonic acid in Nafion® is &lt; 1); and, iv) increases the redox potential of O2 reduction by +59mV for each pH unit reduction. In this study, we demonstrated the use of fermentation effluent as the suitable feedstock for electricity production in microbial fuel cells.

Novel use of low-pH fermentation in bioelectrochemical processes

249th National Meeting (2015)

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