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“This is because the fermentative bacterium was carefully selected to degrade and ferment agricultural wastes into ethanol efficiently and to produce byproducts that could be metabolized by the electricity-producing bacterium,” Reguera said. “By removing the waste products of fermentation, the growth and metabolism of the fermentative bacterium also was stimulated. Basically, each step we take is custom-designed to be optimal.”
The second bacterium, Geobacter sulfurreducens, generates electricity. The electricity, however, isn’t harvested as an output. It is used to generate hydrogen in the MEC to increase the energy recovery process even more, Reguera said.
“When the MEC generates hydrogen, it actually doubles the energy recoveries,” she said. “We increased energy recovery to 73 percent. So the potential is definitely there to make this platform attractive for processing agricultural wastes.”
Do you have a source for this article? I worked on a project similar to this back in 2009 at a government lab but the limitation was always the inefficiency of breaking down cellulose and lignin. I can't tell if this is really breaking down the waste or just fermenting the carbs.
Do you have a source for this article? I worked on a project similar to this back in 2009 at a government lab but the limitation was always the inefficiency of breaking down cellulose and lignin. I can't tell if this is really breaking down the waste or just fermenting the carbs.
I'd suggest that with our diet, we need it. Hamburgers and hotdogs anybody?
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