↓ Skip to main content

Electrolytic extraction drives volatile fatty acid chain elongation through lactic acid and replaces chemical pH control in thin stillage fermentation

Overview of attention for article published in Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts, December 2015
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (68th percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (61st percentile)

Mentioned by

twitter
1 X user
patent
1 patent

Readers on

mendeley
183 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Electrolytic extraction drives volatile fatty acid chain elongation through lactic acid and replaces chemical pH control in thin stillage fermentation
Published in
Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts, December 2015
DOI 10.1186/s13068-015-0396-7
Pubmed ID
Authors

Stephen J. Andersen, Pieter Candry, Thais Basadre, Way Cern Khor, Hugo Roume, Emma Hernandez-Sanabria, Marta Coma, Korneel Rabaey

Abstract

Volatile fatty acids (VFA) are building blocks for the chemical industry. Sustainable, biological production is constrained by production and recovery costs, including the need for intensive pH correction. Membrane electrolysis has been developed as an in situ extraction technology tailored to the direct recovery of VFA from fermentation while stabilizing acidogenesis without caustic addition. A current applied across an anion exchange membrane reduces the fermentation broth (catholyte, water reduction: H2O + e(-) → ½ H2 + OH(-)) and drives carboxylate ions into a clean, concentrated VFA stream (anolyte, water oxidation: H2O → 2e(-) + 2 H(+) + O2). In this study, we fermented thin stillage to generate a mixed VFA extract without chemical pH control. Membrane electrolysis (0.1 A, 3.22 ± 0.60 V) extracted 28 ± 6 % of carboxylates generated per day (on a carbon basis) and completely replaced caustic control of pH, with no impact on the total carboxylate production amount or rate. Hydrogen generated from the applied current shifted the fermentation outcome from predominantly C2 and C3 VFA (64 ± 3 % of the total VFA present in the control) to majority of C4 to C6 (70 ± 12 % in the experiment), with identical proportions in the VFA acid extract. A strain related to Megasphaera elsdenii (maximum abundance of 57 %), a bacteria capable of producing mid-chain VFA at a high rate, was enriched by the applied current, alongside a stable community of Lactobacillus spp. (10 %), enabling chain elongation of VFA through lactic acid. A conversion of 30 ± 5 % VFA produced per sCOD fed (60 ± 10 % of the reactive fraction) was achieved, with a 50 ± 6 % reduction in suspended solids likely by electro-coagulation. VFA can be extracted directly from a fermentation broth by membrane electrolysis. The electrolytic water reduction products are utilized in the fermentation: OH(-) is used for pH control without added chemicals, and H2 is metabolized by species such as Megasphaera elsdenii to produce greater value, more reduced VFA. Electro-fermentation displays promise for generating added value chemical co-products from biorefinery sidestreams and wastes.

Timeline

Login to access the full chart related to this output.

If you don’t have an account, click here to discover Explorer

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
As of 1 July 2024, you may notice a temporary increase in the numbers of X profiles with Unknown location. Click here to learn more.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 183 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
India 2 1%
Poland 1 <1%
Unknown 180 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 42 23%
Student > Master 31 17%
Researcher 24 13%
Student > Bachelor 11 6%
Professor > Associate Professor 7 4%
Other 18 10%
Unknown 50 27%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Engineering 30 16%
Environmental Science 27 15%
Chemical Engineering 18 10%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 15 8%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 9 5%
Other 23 13%
Unknown 61 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 December 2019.
All research outputs
#8,261,756
of 25,373,627 outputs
Outputs from Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts
#565
of 1,578 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#120,442
of 396,020 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts
#21
of 54 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,373,627 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 66th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,578 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 63% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 396,020 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 68% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 54 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 61% of its contemporaries.