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Updated: Apr 20, 2026

Electrochemically and Bioelectrochemically Induced Ammonium Recovery
Published on: January 22, 2015
Resource recovery from used water: the manufacturing abilities of hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria
Silvio Matassa1, Nico Boon, Willy Verstraete
1Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium. Silvio.Matassa@UGent.be
Abstract:
Resources in used water are at present mainly destroyed rather than reused. Recovered nutrients can serve as raw material for the sustainable production of high value bio-products. The concept of using hydrogen and oxygen, produced by green or off-peak energy by electrolysis, as well as the unique capability of autotrophic hydrogen oxidizing bacteria to upgrade nitrogen and minerals into valuable microbial biomass, is proposed. Both axenic and mixed microbial cultures can thus be of value to implement re-synthesis of recovered nutrients in biomolecules. This process can become a major line in the sustainable "water factory" of the future.
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