Pilot microbial electrolysis cell closes the hydrogen loop for hydrothermal wet waste conversion to jet fuel

Jinyue Jiang; Lin Du; Buchun Si; Harshal D. Kawale; Zixin Wang; Sabrina Summers; Juan A. Lopez-Ruiz; Shuyun Li; Yuanhui Zhang; Zhiyong Jason Ren

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.122644

Pilot microbial electrolysis cell closes the hydrogen loop for hydrothermal wet waste conversion to jet fuel

Jinyue Jiang, Lin Du, Buchun Si, Harshal D. Kawale, Zixin Wang, Sabrina Summers, Juan A. Lopez-Ruiz, Shuyun Li, Yuanhui Zhang, Zhiyong Jason Ren

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The global shift toward net-zero emissions necessitates resource recovery from wet waste. In this study, we demonstrate the first feasibility of combining pilot-scale microbial electrolytic cells (MECs) with hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) for simultaneous post-hydrothermal liquefaction wastewater (PHW) treatment and efficient hydrogen (H₂) production to meet biocrude upgrading requirements. Long-term single reactor operation revealed that fixed anode potential enabled rapid startup, and low catholyte pH and high salinity were effective in suppression of cathodic methanogenesis and acetogenesis – resulting in high current density of 16.6 A m⁻² and 9.3 A m⁻² when feeding synthetic wastewater and PHW respectively. Additionally, the anode biofilm exhibited spatial variations in response to local environmental conditions. Onsite parallel or serial operations of multiple MECs showed good performance using actual PHW with a record-high H₂ production rate of 0.5 L L_R day⁻¹ for MEC over 10 liters scale, and the optimal chemical oxygen demand (COD)-to-H₂ yield reached 0.127 kg-H₂ per kg-COD, supporting a self-sufficient, closed-loop upgrade to jet fuel.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	122644
Journal	Water Research
Volume	268
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.122644
State	Published - Jan 1 2025
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Hydrogen
Hydrothermal liquefaction
Microbial electrolysis
Pilot reactor
Resource recovery

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Engineering
Civil and Structural Engineering
Ecological Modeling
Water Science and Technology
Waste Management and Disposal
Pollution

Online availability

10.1016/j.watres.2024.122644

Library availability

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title = "Pilot microbial electrolysis cell closes the hydrogen loop for hydrothermal wet waste conversion to jet fuel",

abstract = "The global shift toward net-zero emissions necessitates resource recovery from wet waste. In this study, we demonstrate the first feasibility of combining pilot-scale microbial electrolytic cells (MECs) with hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) for simultaneous post-hydrothermal liquefaction wastewater (PHW) treatment and efficient hydrogen (H₂) production to meet biocrude upgrading requirements. Long-term single reactor operation revealed that fixed anode potential enabled rapid startup, and low catholyte pH and high salinity were effective in suppression of cathodic methanogenesis and acetogenesis – resulting in high current density of 16.6 A m−2 and 9.3 A m−2 when feeding synthetic wastewater and PHW respectively. Additionally, the anode biofilm exhibited spatial variations in response to local environmental conditions. Onsite parallel or serial operations of multiple MECs showed good performance using actual PHW with a record-high H2 production rate of 0.5 L LR day−1 for MEC over 10 liters scale, and the optimal chemical oxygen demand (COD)-to-H2 yield reached 0.127 kg-H2 per kg-COD, supporting a self-sufficient, closed-loop upgrade to jet fuel.",

keywords = "Hydrogen, Hydrothermal liquefaction, Microbial electrolysis, Pilot reactor, Resource recovery",

author = "Jinyue Jiang and Lin Du and Buchun Si and Kawale, {Harshal D.} and Zixin Wang and Sabrina Summers and Lopez-Ruiz, {Juan A.} and Shuyun Li and Yuanhui Zhang and Ren, {Zhiyong Jason}",

note = "We appreciate the financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) (Project No. EE0009269 ). We would like to thank Harold D. May for his help in the microbial experiments and thank Jeremy D. Cortez and Camila Llerena-Olivera for their help in taking the optical microscopic images of the cathode sample. We would also like to thank Steven E Ford, Ziqi Qin and Yifei Jin at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for helping with arrangement of pilot operation. The pilot scheme figure was created with BioRender.com.",

year = "2025",

month = jan,

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doi = "10.1016/j.watres.2024.122644",

language = "English (US)",

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journal = "Water Research",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Pilot microbial electrolysis cell closes the hydrogen loop for hydrothermal wet waste conversion to jet fuel

AU - Jiang, Jinyue

AU - Du, Lin

AU - Si, Buchun

AU - Kawale, Harshal D.

AU - Wang, Zixin

AU - Summers, Sabrina

AU - Lopez-Ruiz, Juan A.

AU - Li, Shuyun

AU - Zhang, Yuanhui

AU - Ren, Zhiyong Jason

N1 - We appreciate the financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) (Project No. EE0009269 ). We would like to thank Harold D. May for his help in the microbial experiments and thank Jeremy D. Cortez and Camila Llerena-Olivera for their help in taking the optical microscopic images of the cathode sample. We would also like to thank Steven E Ford, Ziqi Qin and Yifei Jin at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for helping with arrangement of pilot operation. The pilot scheme figure was created with BioRender.com.

PY - 2025/1/1

Y1 - 2025/1/1

N2 - The global shift toward net-zero emissions necessitates resource recovery from wet waste. In this study, we demonstrate the first feasibility of combining pilot-scale microbial electrolytic cells (MECs) with hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) for simultaneous post-hydrothermal liquefaction wastewater (PHW) treatment and efficient hydrogen (H₂) production to meet biocrude upgrading requirements. Long-term single reactor operation revealed that fixed anode potential enabled rapid startup, and low catholyte pH and high salinity were effective in suppression of cathodic methanogenesis and acetogenesis – resulting in high current density of 16.6 A m−2 and 9.3 A m−2 when feeding synthetic wastewater and PHW respectively. Additionally, the anode biofilm exhibited spatial variations in response to local environmental conditions. Onsite parallel or serial operations of multiple MECs showed good performance using actual PHW with a record-high H2 production rate of 0.5 L LR day−1 for MEC over 10 liters scale, and the optimal chemical oxygen demand (COD)-to-H2 yield reached 0.127 kg-H2 per kg-COD, supporting a self-sufficient, closed-loop upgrade to jet fuel.

AB - The global shift toward net-zero emissions necessitates resource recovery from wet waste. In this study, we demonstrate the first feasibility of combining pilot-scale microbial electrolytic cells (MECs) with hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) for simultaneous post-hydrothermal liquefaction wastewater (PHW) treatment and efficient hydrogen (H₂) production to meet biocrude upgrading requirements. Long-term single reactor operation revealed that fixed anode potential enabled rapid startup, and low catholyte pH and high salinity were effective in suppression of cathodic methanogenesis and acetogenesis – resulting in high current density of 16.6 A m−2 and 9.3 A m−2 when feeding synthetic wastewater and PHW respectively. Additionally, the anode biofilm exhibited spatial variations in response to local environmental conditions. Onsite parallel or serial operations of multiple MECs showed good performance using actual PHW with a record-high H2 production rate of 0.5 L LR day−1 for MEC over 10 liters scale, and the optimal chemical oxygen demand (COD)-to-H2 yield reached 0.127 kg-H2 per kg-COD, supporting a self-sufficient, closed-loop upgrade to jet fuel.

KW - Hydrogen

KW - Hydrothermal liquefaction

KW - Microbial electrolysis

KW - Pilot reactor

KW - Resource recovery

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VL - 268

JO - Water Research

JF - Water Research

M1 - 122644

ER -

Pilot microbial electrolysis cell closes the hydrogen loop for hydrothermal wet waste conversion to jet fuel

Abstract

Keywords

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