Harvesting energy from natural environments using electroactive bacteria
Mentor: Karina Boltes Espinola
Email: karina.boltes@uah.es
Phone: (+34) 91 885 64 22
University: Universidad de Alcalá
Partner Host Institution: IMDEA Water
Keywords: MET, sMFC, bioremediation, electrochemistry, electroactive bacteria, electrochemical engineering

Harvesting energy from natural environments using electroactive bacteria

The field of bioremediation has been recently altered by an exciting finding: a process by which the so-called electroactive bacteria can transfer electrons to electroconductive materials and produce electrical current from their metabolic activity in natural environments.
Our research group is fully devoted to merge environmental microbiology and electrochemical tools to restore soil and sediments polluted with organics compounds, while harvesting clean energy from enviroments. We truly believe that investing time in studying the basic aspects of this novel field will accelerate the design and implementation of innovative applications able to make Earth a better place to live in.
Our activities are mainly focus on:
• Designing and constructing electrochemical devices for harvesting electrical current from microbial metabolism in polluted enviroments like soils and sediments
• Designing strategies for cleaning-up polluted soils and sediments using electroactive microorganisms stimulated with electrochemical tools.

Departament: Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering
Research Group: Bioelctrogenesis
More Information: www.bioelectrogenesis.com
Relevants projects on the area:
Relevants publications on the area: 1.- Ainara Domínguez Garay; Ana Karina Boltes Espínola; Abraham Esteve Núñez. (2016) Cleaning-up atrazine-polluted soil by using Microbial Electroremediating Cells. Chemosphere. 161, pp. 365 - 371.
2.- Jose Rodrigo.; Ana Karina Boltes Espínola; Abraham Esteve Núñez; 2014. Microbial-electrochemical bioremediation and detoxification of dibenzothiophene-polluted soil Chemosphere. 101, pp.61-65