Electricity generation from rapeseed straw hydrolysates using microbial fuel cells

What is it about?

Rapeseed straw is an attractive fuel material for microbial fuel cells (MFCs) due to its high content of carbohydrates. This study has demonstrated that reducing sugars can be efficiently extracted from raw rapeseed straw by combination of hydrothermal pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis followed by utilization as a fuel in two-chamber MFCs for electrical power generation.

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Why is it important?

This is the first study showing that rapeseed straw, an abundant component of plant biomass, can be effectively used as alternative source of a carbohydrate fuel. The MFC fuel was produced in a separate process by treating a raw rapeseed straw with various hydrolysing media. The most efficient method of saccharification of this lignocellulose biomass turned out hydrothermal pretreatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis.