{"id":15510,"date":"2026-04-21T10:18:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T10:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/2026\/04\/21\/digitalization-of-microbial-electrosynthesis-understanding-operational-variables-for-ethanol-production-optimization\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T10:22:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T10:22:49","slug":"digitalization-of-microbial-electrosynthesis-understanding-operational-variables-for-ethanol-production-optimization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/2026\/04\/21\/digitalization-of-microbial-electrosynthesis-understanding-operational-variables-for-ethanol-production-optimization\/","title":{"rendered":"Digitalization of microbial electrosynthesis: Understanding operational variables for ethanol production optimization"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"15510\" class=\"elementor elementor-15510 elementor-15504\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1d54f339 ts-col-stretched-none ts-bg-color-over-image elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1d54f339\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7d783bc5 ts-bg-color-over-image\" data-id=\"7d783bc5\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-16281e0e ts-align-left elementor-widget elementor-widget-ts_heading\" data-id=\"16281e0e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"ts_heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ts-heading-subheading ts-reverse-heading-yes animation-style4\"><h4 class=\"ts-custom-heading ts-custom-subtitle\">\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tAuthors: Jorge A. Albarracin-Arias, Meritxell Romans-Casas, Paolo Dess\u00ec, M. Dolors Balaguer, Sebasti\u00e0 Puig                                                                                                        \r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\r\n\t\t<h2 class=\"ts-custom-heading ts-custom-heading-title\">\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tDigitalization of microbial electrosynthesis: Understanding operational variables for ethanol production optimization\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t<\/h2>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-637dba68 ts-col-stretched-none ts-bg-color-over-image elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"637dba68\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3493cb24 ts-bg-color-over-image\" data-id=\"3493cb24\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-123c6cdc elementor-widget-tablet__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"123c6cdc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is a bioelectrochemical technology devoted to carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2<\/sub>) conversion into value-added organic products. Traditionally, it has been addressed through trial-and-error approaches, with limited experimental data. This study introduces a data-driven framework to advance the MES digitalization through systematic analysis of operational variables influencing CO<sub>2<\/sub>\u00a0conversion. CO<sub>2<\/sub>\u00a0conversion to acetic acid and ethanol was investigated in MES cells integrated within an automated bench-scale platform. It enabled real-time control of key operational variables, i.e. dissolved CO<sub>2<\/sub>, pH, and pressure, while monitoring electrical conductivity, cell voltage and temperature. The ethanol production rate was improved by 35% (14.80\u00a0g\u00a0m<sup>\u22122<\/sup>d<sup>\u22121<\/sup>), obtained controlling dissolved CO<sub>2<\/sub>\u00a0at 100\u2013300\u00a0mg\u00a0L<sup>\u22121<\/sup>, pH at 4.5\u20134.8 and pressure at 1.8\u00a0bar. Process data were analyzed through pattern discovery (based on both operation and production variables) and unsupervised clustering (based solely on operational variables). The latter allowed to identify distinct operational phases, which matched the real production stages, solely based on operation variables. Principal component analysis revealed that acetic acid production was primarily dependent on dissolved CO<sub>2<\/sub>, with secondary contributions from pH and electrical conductivity. Electrical conductivity emerged as an identifying signal for ethanol production. The proposed data-based methodology elucidates the key variable interactions and supports phase-specific monitoring and control strategies for MES optimization in the absence of time-consuming, punctual product measurements.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-8fef284 ts-col-stretched-none ts-bg-color-over-image elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"8fef284\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6df5cc2 ts-bg-color-over-image\" data-id=\"6df5cc2\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-120d751f elementor-widget elementor-widget-accordion\" data-id=\"120d751f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"accordion.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-accordion\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-accordion-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"elementor-tab-title-3021\" class=\"elementor-tab-title\" data-tab=\"1\" role=\"button\" aria-controls=\"elementor-tab-content-3021\" aria-expanded=\"false\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-accordion-icon elementor-accordion-icon-left\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-accordion-icon-closed\"><i class=\"fas fa-plus\"><\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-accordion-icon-opened\"><i class=\"fas fa-minus\"><\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-accordion-title\" tabindex=\"0\">Additional Info<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"elementor-tab-content-3021\" class=\"elementor-tab-content elementor-clearfix\" data-tab=\"1\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"elementor-tab-title-3021\"><table style=\"border: hidden;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"border-bottom: 1px solid #efefef;\">\n<td align=\"right\" width=\"200\"><strong>Year:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-bottom: 1px solid #efefef;\">\n<td align=\"right\" width=\"200\"><strong>Authors:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Jorge A. Albarracin-Arias, Meritxell Romans-Casas, Paolo Dess\u00ec, M. Dolors Balaguer, Sebasti\u00e0 Puig<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-bottom: 1px solid #efefef;\">\n<td align=\"right\" width=\"200\"><strong>Reference:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Chemical Engineering Journal, Volume 534, 2026, 174960<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"border-bottom: 1px solid #efefef;\">\n<td align=\"right\" width=\"200\"><strong>Link:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cej.2026.174960\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cej.2026.174960<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2e44137f elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"2e44137f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Authors: Jorge A. Albarracin-Arias, Meritxell Romans-Casas, Paolo Dess\u00ec, M. Dolors Balaguer, Sebasti\u00e0 Puig Digitalization of microbial electrosynthesis: Understanding operational variables for ethanol production optimization Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is a bioelectrochemical technology devoted to carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion into value-added organic products. Traditionally, it has been addressed through trial-and-error approaches, with limited experimental data. This study &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/2026\/04\/21\/digitalization-of-microbial-electrosynthesis-understanding-operational-variables-for-ethanol-production-optimization\/\" class=\"more-link\" title=\"Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Digitalization of microbial electrosynthesis: Understanding operational variables for ethanol production optimization<\/span>&#8220;>Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Digitalization of microbial electrosynthesis: Understanding operational variables for ethanol production optimization<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-ca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15511,"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15510\/revisions\/15511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequia-udg.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}