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Obtaining microbial communities with exoelectrogenic activity from anaerobic sludge using a simplified procedure

Authors :
Juan A. Baeza
Nuria Montpart
Albert Guisasola
Laura Rago
Edgar Ribot-Llobet
Yolanda Ruiz-Franco
Javier Lafuente
Source :
Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology. 89:1727-1732
Publication Year :
2013
Publisher :
Wiley, 2013.

Abstract

BACKGROUND The microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology transforms the chemical energy present in substrates into electricity. Starting-up these systems, i.e. enriching the anodic community in exoelectrogenic bacteria, is a lengthy process or requires expensive equipment. RESULTS An easy and low-cost procedure based on a sediment MFC was developed to select microbial communities with exoelectrogenic activity from the anaerobic sludge of a waste water treatment plant (WWTP). The configuration was based on a simple vessel working as a single chamber MFC with a cathode of stainless steel wool in the liquid surface and a submerged graphite fibre brush as anode. In 30 days of operation, a biofilm with remarkable exoelectrogenic activity was grown on the anode of the MFC. This graphite fibre brush anode was able to supply 0.9 W m-2 when working in an air-cathode MFC (AC-MFC) for 45 days. CONCLUSION The procedure presented was demonstrated to be a successful, low-cost and low-maintenance procedure to obtain exoelectrogenic activity and had performances comparable with other more costly and complex inoculation procedures. The Sed-MFC does not require a potentiostat, external aeration, stirring, membranes or an enriched inoculum in the exoelectrogenic biomass. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

Details

ISSN :
02682575
Volume :
89
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........529b1d72d781dc73b8a63d07bb9442c8