TY - INPR A1 - Schwarz, Fabian M. A1 - Moon, Jimyung A1 - Oswald, Florian A1 - Müller, Volker T1 - Biological hydrogen storage and release through multiple cycles of bi-directional hydrogenation of CO2 to formic acid in a single process unit N2 - Hydrogen is a promising fuel in a carbon-neutral economy, and many efforts are currently undertaken to produce hydrogen. One of the challenges is to store and transport the highly explosive gas in a safe and easy way. One option that is intensively analyzed by chemists and biologists is the conversion of hydrogen and CO2 to formic acid, the liquid organic hydrogen carrier. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that a bio-based system, using Acetobacterium woodii as the biocatalyst, allows multiple cycles of bi-directional hydrogenation of CO2 to formic acid in one bioreactor. The process was kept running over 2 weeks producing and oxidizing 330 mM formic acid in total. Unwanted side-product formation of acetic acid was prevented through metabolic engineering of the organism. The demonstrated process design can be considered as a future “bio-battery” for the reversible storage of electrons in the form of H2 in formic acid, a versatile compound. KW - carbon capture KW - hydrogen storage KW - whole-cell catalysis KW - acetogenic bacteria KW - fermentation KW - bioreactor KW - hydrogenation of CO2 KW - formate oxidation KW - hydrogen-dependent CO2 reductase Y1 - 2022 UR - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/79476 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-794764 N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Joule: Schwarz, Fabian M. et al. (2022): Biological hydrogen storage and release through multiple cycles of bi-directional hydrogenation of CO2 to formic acid in a single process unit. Joule, Volume 6, Issue 6, 1304 - 1319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2022.04.020. © 2022. ER -