Coupling electrochemical CO₂ reduction to microbial product generation – identification of the gaps and opportunities

Reducing the carbon intensity of the chemical industry has become a priority topic. The conversion of CO₂ through combined electrochemical and microbial processes is an attractive perspective for scalable production with a reduced carbon footprint. CO₂ can be electrochemically reduced to several one-carbon compounds such as carbon monoxide, formic acid, and methanol. These intermediates can serve as feedstocks in microbial conversion to produce bulk and fine chemicals. The aim of this article is to show the performance and technology readiness of electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to the various components and the respective biotechnological conversions. Next, these performances are considered in relation to each other and existing gaps for the realization of hybrid microbial electrosynthesis processes are evaluated.