The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a process to recycle wastewater from biofuel production to generate hydrogen. The hydrogen can then be used to convert bio-oil into higher grade liquid fuels such as gasoline or diesel. The researchers aim to bring the technology up to commercial scale and hope the work could show how microbial electrolysis could make bio-refineries more efficient and economic. Biofuels are produced by burning biomass in an anaerobic digester that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) directly into ethanol.
The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a process to recycle wastewater from biofuel production to generate hydrogen. The hydrogen can then be used to convert bio-oil into higher grade liquid fuels such as gasoline or diesel. The researchers aim to bring the technology up to commercial scale and hope the work could show how microbial electrolysis could make bio-refineries more efficient and economic. The scientists used electrogens – bacteria that digest organic compounds and generate an electric current – to break down the organic acids in the liquid bio-oil to produce hydrogen.