Isolation of Novel CO Converting Microorganism Using Zero Valent Iron for a Bioelectrochemical System (BES).

Carbon monoxide (CO) is one of the main waste gas components of the steel industry and biomass gasification process. CO has also been highlighted as a feedstock for biological conversion to platform and valueadded chemicals. Conventional CO-converting strains have drawbacks of slow growth rate and high sensitivity to oxygen as well as low conversion yield. Most CO conversion microbes harbor the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway (WLP) and CO-dehydrogenase, and the reducing equivalent is significantly limited for acetyl-CoA synthesis. In this study, electrochemically active CO converting strains were isolated and characterized using zero valent iron (ZVI) granules (Fe0) as an external electron donor. The strains isolated from ZVI augmented enrichment could also use a carbon electrode as the electron donor, and simultaneously convert CO to acetate and VFAs in a bioelectrochemical system. From enrichment and isolation with ZVI, both Clostridium sp. HN02 and Fonticella sp. HN43 were isolated and showed higher performance for acetate production from CO in BES, and electrochemical activity by cyclic voltammetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]