Prof. Dr. Falk Harnisch
Engineering Bio|Electro|Chemical Technologies
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ
Abstract:
We face an urgent need to transition away from fossil-based industrial practices. While renewable energy sources like solar and wind offer sustainable electricity, their intermittent nature creates a spatiotemporal mismatch between supply and demand. To address this, we must develop scalable solutions for using electric energy to create chemicals and chemical energy carriers. This talk explores the potential of interfacing biological, electrochemical and chemical technologies to convert CO₂ and waste streams into valuable chemicals and energy carriers using renewable electric energy.
I will start with a brief introduction into the broad portfolio of microbial electrochemical and hybrid technologies. The first focus is electroactive microorganisms (EAM) that form the foundation of microbial electrochemical technologies. EAM allow wiring of metabolic turnover in living cells with the flow electric energy that is based on a peculiar microbial life style that allows them to thrive in very different ecological niches. The most promising example of technical exploitation of EAM is microbial electrosynthesis that enables the synthesis of chemicals from CO2 and electric energy. I argue that microbial resource mining followed by metabolic control of pure cultures and their genetic engineering could unlock the synthesis of a broad portfolio of high-value chemicals. The second focus is on hybrid technologies that interface microbial with electrochemical processes. I will showcase these on the examples of i) using electric energy to convert CO2 into feedstock (i.e. C1-compounds) that is used for biosynthesis of chemicals, and ii) the electrosynthesis of drop-in fuels from medium chain organic acids gained from waste streams using reactor microbiomes. I demonstrate that engineering is required that is addressing the needs of both biological and electrochemical process environments. Thus, I advocate for a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach of systems engineering, standardization and description ranging from the subcellular level to full reactors of bio|electro|chemical technologies to set the foundation for electrobiorefineries.
Short Bio:
Prof. Falk Harnisch leads the Electrobiotechnology group at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig since 2012, is Full Professor for Electrobiotechnology at Leipzig University since 2019, and also Co-Head of the Department of Microbial Biotechnology at the UFZ since 2024. As a trained biochemist, he is pioneering the field of electrobiotechnology and now spearheading application-driven fundamental research at the interfaces of electrochemistry, microbiology, and engineering. His group currently focuses on combining electrochemical and microbial synthesis for chemical production, aiming to bridge the gap between lab-scale discoveries and implementation and on deciphering the fundamentals of energy fluxes in electroactive microorganisms.
Falk studied Biochemistry at the University of Greifswald (Diploma 2006) and earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry there in 2009, specializing in electrocatalysis and bioelectrocatalysis. He then worked as a senior assistant at TU Braunschweig (2008–2012) and conducted research at the University of Queensland, Australia (2011). He founded his Young Investigators Group at the UFZ in 2012 that is now among the international leading groups in the field. He has authored more than 180 publications, including 17 articles in ChemSusChem and 10 in Energy and Environmental Science. He is the inventor of 4 patent families, co-edited 1 book, and was the lead author of the first textbook dedicated to electrochemistry for biotechnology.
His contributions have been recognized with scholarships and awards such as the Helmholtz Young Investigator Group grant and the Biotechnology 2020+ Research Award of the BMBF. Falk served as Co-Speaker of DECHEMA’s Future Panel (2016–2018), Vice President (2019–2021), and President (2021–2023) of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (ISMET). He is currently an elected member of the steering committee of the DFG Priority Program (SPP) 2240 eBiotech and part of the MSCA-Doctoral Network TRAMPOLINe-. He is passionate about mentoring the next generation of scientists and collaborates with leading institutions and industry to advance electrobiotechnology applications.