DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201403199
Cover Profile
Electrifying White Biotechnology: Engineering and Economic Potential of Electricity-Driven Bio-Production
UFZ—Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Microbiology Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany (E-mail: [email protected]) in collaboration with the Centre for Microbial Electrosynthesis Advanced Water Management Centre The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. Top: Dr. F. Harnisch, Dr. L. F. M. Rosa, F. Kracke. Bottom: Dr. B. Virdis, Dr. J. O. Krçmer.
Invited for the cover of this issue are the groups of Falk Harnisch at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Germany) and his collaboration partners at The University of Queensland (Australia). The image depicts their vision of the world, if “electrification” of white biotechnology comes true. The Concept itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.201402736.
How did the collaboration on this project start?
lism towards desired products. From our perspective, the most challenging, but also most rewarding hurdle relates to the management of the complex interplay of all components to create effective production systems, which will allow society to build and operate these technologies with inherent economic and ecologic incentives.
The contact between the research groups originated from a sabbatical of Falk Harnisch as visiting academic at The University of Queensland in 2011. The ties were maintained and strengthened after his return to Germany and move to the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ in late 2012. The idea for this article was born during discussions on the lack of the now-presented type of analysis during the 4th International Microbial Fuel Cell conference in Cairns in 2013 and has continued since then.
F.H. acknowledges support by the BMBF (Research Award “Next generation biotechnological processes - Biotechnology 2020 + ”) and the Helmholtz-Association (Young Investigators Group). J.O.K. is financially supported through the Australian Research Council (DE120101549). J.O.K., F.K. and B.V. acknowledge the financial support for CEMES through the University of Queensland. This work was supported by the Helmholtz Association within the Research Programme Renewable Energies.
What inspired you for the cover image? The cover image, drawn by co-author Frauke Kracke, was inspired by the overall concept of the article or, more generally, by the idea of using electric energy to drive bio-synthesis. It was drawn after some discussions of the authors, fuelled by inspiring beverages, about the potential long-term industrial and societal changes, if “electrification” of white biotechnology becomes a reality.
What future opportunities do you see and what are the main challenges for your field? There are numerous questions that need to be addressed for improvement and optimization of single components, for instance, electrode materials and geometry, or understanding and harnessing the engineering of microbial extracellular electron transfer mechanisms for the steering of microbial metaboChemSusChem 2015, 8, 739
739
2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Cover Profile
Electrifying White Biotechnology: Engineering and Economic Potential of Electricity-Driven Bio-Production
UFZ—Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Microbiology Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany (E-mail: [email protected]) in collaboration with the Centre for Microbial Electrosynthesis Advanced Water Management Centre The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. Top: Dr. F. Harnisch, Dr. L. F. M. Rosa, F. Kracke. Bottom: Dr. B. Virdis, Dr. J. O. Krçmer.
Invited for the cover of this issue are the groups of Falk Harnisch at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Germany) and his collaboration partners at The University of Queensland (Australia). The image depicts their vision of the world, if “electrification” of white biotechnology comes true. The Concept itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.201402736.
How did the collaboration on this project start?
lism towards desired products. From our perspective, the most challenging, but also most rewarding hurdle relates to the management of the complex interplay of all components to create effective production systems, which will allow society to build and operate these technologies with inherent economic and ecologic incentives.
The contact between the research groups originated from a sabbatical of Falk Harnisch as visiting academic at The University of Queensland in 2011. The ties were maintained and strengthened after his return to Germany and move to the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ in late 2012. The idea for this article was born during discussions on the lack of the now-presented type of analysis during the 4th International Microbial Fuel Cell conference in Cairns in 2013 and has continued since then.
F.H. acknowledges support by the BMBF (Research Award “Next generation biotechnological processes - Biotechnology 2020 + ”) and the Helmholtz-Association (Young Investigators Group). J.O.K. is financially supported through the Australian Research Council (DE120101549). J.O.K., F.K. and B.V. acknowledge the financial support for CEMES through the University of Queensland. This work was supported by the Helmholtz Association within the Research Programme Renewable Energies.
What inspired you for the cover image? The cover image, drawn by co-author Frauke Kracke, was inspired by the overall concept of the article or, more generally, by the idea of using electric energy to drive bio-synthesis. It was drawn after some discussions of the authors, fuelled by inspiring beverages, about the potential long-term industrial and societal changes, if “electrification” of white biotechnology becomes a reality.
What future opportunities do you see and what are the main challenges for your field? There are numerous questions that need to be addressed for improvement and optimization of single components, for instance, electrode materials and geometry, or understanding and harnessing the engineering of microbial extracellular electron transfer mechanisms for the steering of microbial metaboChemSusChem 2015, 8, 739
739
2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
