XiaXia Wang, Yu Zhao, Li'E. Jin et al.

RSC Advances • 2024

This study explores the removal of Cd( ii ) from wastewater using a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) to investigate the electrochemical performance and removal kinetics and the mechanism of action of electrochemically active bacteria.

Youzhao Wang, Yuan Pan, Xianjin Li et al.

RSC Advances • 2018

This study proposes an ultrasound treatment–up flow anaerobic sludge blanket–microbial electrolysis cell (UT-UASB-MEC) degradation system.

Edgardo I. Valenzuela, María F. Ortiz-Zúñiga, Julián Carrillo-Reyes et al.

Chemosphere • 2021

This work proves the feasibility of employing regular secondary activated sludge for the enrichment of a microbial community able to perform the anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to nitrate reduction (N-AOM). After 96 days of activated sludge enrichment, a clear N-AOM activity was observed in the resulting microbial community. The methane removal potential of the enriched N-AOM culture was then studied in a stirred tank reactor (STR) operated in continuous mode for methane supply and semi-continuous mode for the liquid phase. The effect of applying nitrate loads of ∼22, 44, 66, and 88 g NO 3 - m -3 h -1 on (i) STR methane and nitrate removal performance, (ii) N 2 O emission, and (iii) microbial composition was investigated. Methane elimination capacities from 21 ± 13.3 to 55 ± 12 g CH 4 m -3 h -1 were recorded, coupled to nitrate removal rates ranging from 6 ± 3.2 to 43 ± 14.9 g NO 3 - m -3 h -1 . N 2 O production was not detected under the three nitrate loading rates applied for the assessment of potential N 2 O emission in the continuous N-AOM process (i.e. ∼22-66 g NO -3 m -3 h -1 ). The lack of N 2 O emissions during the process was attributed to the N 2 O reducing capacity of the bacterial taxa identified and the rigorous control of dissolved O 2 and pH implemented (dissolved O 2 values ≤ 0.07 g m -3 and pH of 7.6 ± 0.4). Microbial characterization showed that the N-AOM process was performed in absence of putative N-AOM archaea and bacteria (ANME-2d, M. oxyfera). Instead, microbial activity was driven by methane-oxidizing bacteria and denitrifying bacteria (Bacteroidetes, α-, and γ-proteobacteria).

Heinz Hiegemann, Tobias Littfinski, Stefan Krimmler et al.

Bioresource Technology • 2019

Ashish Yewale, Ravi Methekar, Shailesh Agrawal

Chemical Engineering Research and Design • 2019

Zane Kleinmane, Arturs Gruduls, Vizma Nikolajeva et al.

Journal of Biotechnology • 2016

Ana Sotres, Laura Tey, August Bonmatí et al.

Bioelectrochemistry • 2016

Xue Song, Guangsheng Chen, Feiyue Wang et al.

Fuel • 2024

Chih-Yu Chen, Guey-Horng Wang, Teh-Hua Tsai et al.

Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A • 2017

A novel two-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) operation with a continuous anaerobic-aerobic decolorization system was developed to improve the degradation of the triphenylmethane dye, Victoria blue R (VBR). In addition, bioelectricity was generated during the VBR degradation process, and the operation parameters were optimized. The results indicated that the VBR removal efficiency and electricity generation were affected by the VBR concentration, liquid retention time (LRT), external resistance, gas retention time (GRT), and shock loading. The optimal operation parameters were as follows: VBR concentration, 600 mg L -1 ; LRT, 24 h; external resistance, 3300 Ω; and GRT, 60 s. Under these operating conditions, the VBR removal efficiency, COD removal efficiency, and power density were 98.2% ± 0.3%, 97.6% ± 0.5%, and 30.6 ± 0.4 mW m -2 , respectively. According to our review of the relevant literature, this is the first paper to analyze the electrical characteristics of a continuous two-chamber MFC operation and demonstrate the feasibility of the simultaneous electricity generation and decolorization of VBR.

Suresh Babu Pasupuleti, Sandipam Srikanth, S. Venkata Mohan et al.

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy • 2015

Swathi Kuchi, Omprakash Sarkar, Sai Kishore Butti et al.

Bioresource Technology • 2018

The effect of stacking multiple microbial fuel cells for stable power output was evaluated in continuous mode operation. Three single chambered air cathode CMFCs with Nafion (CMFC N ), Terry cotton (CMFC T ) as membranes and one without membrane (CMFC ML ) were operated in continuous mode. Maximum power density (PD) and COD removal efficiency was obtained for CMFC N (0.1 W/m 2 , 50%) followed by CMFC ML (0.062 W/m 2 , 47%) and CMFC T (0.025 W/m 2 , 39%) and were stable throughout the operation. To increase the power output further, stacking of CMFCs was carried in series/parallel circuitry, which yielded high power density in parallel (2.0 W/m 2 ; 7.2 W/m 3 ) and high voltage in series (1.1 V). Study also evidenced that stacking resulted in high and stable bioelectricity by minimizing the electron losses in comparison to individual CMFCs operation. Stable and high power output signifies the impact of continuous mode operation that constantlty replenishes the substrate.

Keiichi Kubota, Tomohide Watanabe, Takashi Yamaguchi et al.

Environmental Technology • 2016

D. Hidalgo, A. Sacco, S. Hernández et al.

Bioresource Technology • 2015

A mixed microbial population naturally presents in seawater was used as active anodic biofilm of two Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs), employing either a 2D commercial carbon felt or 3D carbon-coated Berl saddles as anode electrodes, with the aim to compare their electrochemical behavior under continuous operation. After an initial increase of the maximum power density, the felt-based cell reduced its performance at 5 months (from 7 to 4 μW cm(-2)), while the saddle-based MFC exceeds 9 μW cm(-2) (after 2 months) and maintained such performance for all the tests. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to identify the MFCs controlling losses and indicates that the mass-transport limitations at the biofilm-electrolyte interface have the main contribution (>95%) to their internal resistance. The activation resistance was one order of magnitude lower with the Berl saddles than with carbon felt, suggesting an enhanced charge-transfer in the high surface-area 3D electrode, due to an increase in bacteria population growth.

Sandipam Srikanth, Manoj Kumar, Dheer Singh et al.

Bioresource Technology • 2016

Refinery wastewater (RW) treatment in microbial fuel cell (MFC) was studied in batch mode operation followed by continuous mode operation with 8h and 16h hydraulic retention time (HRT). The MFC performance was evaluated in terms of power density, organics removal, specific contaminants (oil & grease, phenol and sulfide) removal and energy conversion efficiency with respect to operation mode. Higher power density of 225±1.4mW/m 2 was observed during continuous mode operation with 16h HRT along with a substrate degradation of 84.4±0.8% including the 95±0.6 of oil content. The columbic efficiency during this operation was about 2±0.8% and the projected power yield was 340±20kWh/kg COD R /day. Batch mode operation also showed good substrate degradation (81±1.8%) but took longer HRT which resulted in significantly low substrate degradation rate (0.036±0.002kgCOD R /m 3 -day) over continuous mode operation (1.05±0.01kgCOD R /m 3 -day). Overall, current study depicted the possibility of utilizing RW as substrate in MFC for power generation along with its treatment.

Achiraya Sangcharoen, Witchayut Niyom, Benjaporn Boonchayaanant Suwannasilp

Process Biochemistry • 2015

Diana Guaya, Gianella Cuenca, Eda Mendoza et al.

Industrial Crops and Products • 2023

Fariba Mirzaienia, Ali Asadipour, Ahmad Jonidi Jafari et al.

Applied Water Science • 2017

Pooja Sharma, Ashutosh Kumar Pandey, Aswathy Udayan et al.

Bioresource Technology • 2021

Rui Liu, Yuling Zhang, Weitao Liu et al.

Frontiers in Microbiology • 2025

A.Y. Goren, H.E. Okten

Chemosphere • 2021

Xiao Li, Guangli Liu, Zhen He

Bioresource Technology • 2020

Juan J. L. Guzman, Diana Z. Sousa, Largus T. Angenent

Frontiers in Microbiology • 2019

Syntrophic microbial partnerships are found in many environments and play critical roles in wastewater treatment, global nutrient cycles, and gut systems. An important type of syntrophy for the anaerobic conversion of carboxylic acids is H 2 syntrophy. In this type of microbial partnership, dissolved H 2 is produced by a bacterium and rapidly consumed by an archeon (methanogen), resulting in methane gas. This is referred to as interspecies H 2 transfer, and some conversions rely on this mechanism to become thermodynamically feasible. For this reason, syntrophic partners are often not possible to separate in the lab, which hampers the full understanding of their physiology. Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) may show promise to ultimately separate and study the behavior of the syntrophic bacterium by employing an abiotic H 2 oxidation reaction at the anode, actively removing dissolved H 2 . Here, we performed a proof-of-concept study to ascertain whether an H 2 -removing anode can: (1) provide a growth advantage for the syntrophic bacterium; and (2) compete with the methanogenic partner. A mathematical model was developed to design a BES to perform competition experiments. Indeed, the operated BES demonstrated the ability to provide a growth advantage to the syntrophic bacterium Syntrophus aciditrophicus compared to its methanogenic partner Methanospirillum hungatei when grown in co-culture. Further, the BES provided the never-before isolated Syntrophomonas zehnderi with a growth advantage compared to Methanobacterium formicicum . Our results demonstrate a potential to use this BES to enrich H 2 -sensitive syntrophic bacteria, and gives prospects for the development of an effective method for the separation of obligate syntrophs.

Polina Velichkova, Anatoliy Angelov, Svetlana Bratkova

Journal of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy • 2023

Guangtuan Huang, Ling Qu, Yi Ding

Desalination and Water Treatment • 2019

Varsha Dhar, Rajesh Singh

Archives of Microbiology • 2023

In this study, heat-pretreated sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRBs) were evaluated for simultaneous sulfate and nitrate removal in a bioelectrochemical system (BES). The effect of the applied potential of 20 mV to SRBs was evaluated at a sulfate concentration of 3 g/L and/or nitrate concentration of 0.5 g/L supplemented before heat pretreatment for sulfate and nitrate removal. The highest H 2 production of 2.24 ± 0.04 mM/L in heat-pretreated culture was observed in the presence of sulfate at an applied potential of 20 mV (BHE-S). Simultaneous reduction of sulfate and nitrate was significant in BESs supplemented with either sulfate or nitrate during heat-shock pretreatment of the culture. The highest SO 4 2- removal of 88.91 ± 0.8% was found in culture heat pretreated with NO 3 - and applied with 20 mV potential (BHE-N). The kinetics of heat-pretreated culture showed higher R 2 and ultimate potential for H 2 on the continuous application of 20 mV potential.

Xavier Alexis Walter, Irene Merino-Jiménez, John Greenman et al.

Journal of Power Sources • 2018

A novel design of microbial fuel cells (MFC) fuelled with undiluted urine was demonstrated to be an efficient power source for decentralised areas, but had only been tested under controlled laboratory conditions. Hence, a field-trial was carried out to assess its feasibility for practical implementation: a bespoke stack of 12 MFC modules was implemented as a self-sufficient lit urinal system at UK's largest music festival. Laboratory investigation showed that with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 44 h, a cascade of 4 modules (19.2 L displacement volume) was continuously producing ≈150 mW. At the same HRT, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) was reduced from 5586 mg COD·L -1 to 625 mg COD·L -1 . Field results of the system under uncontrolled usage indicate an optimal retention time for power production between 2h30 and ≈9 h. When measured (HRT of ≈11h40), the COD decreased by 48% and the total nitrogen content by 13%. Compared to the previous PEE POWER ® field-trial (2015), the present system achieved a 37% higher COD removal with half the HRT. The 2016 set-up produced ≈30% more energy in a third of the total volumetric footprint (max 600 mW). This performance corresponds to ≈7-fold technological improvement.

Indrasis Das, Sovik Das, M.M. Ghangrekar

Chemical Physics Letters • 2020

Pratiksha Srivastava, Rouzbeh Abbassi, Vikram Garaniya et al.

Journal of Water Process Engineering • 2020

Shijia Wu, Hui Li, Xuechen Zhou et al.

Water Research • 2016

A novel stacked microbial fuel cell (MFC) which had a total volume of 72 L with granular activated carbon (GAC) packed bed electrodes was constructed and verified to present remarkable power generation and COD removal performance due to its advantageous design of stack and electrode configuration. During the fed-batch operation period, a power density of 50.9 ± 1.7 W/m(3) and a COD removal efficiency of 97% were achieved within 48 h. Because of the differences among MFC modules in the stack, reversal current occurred in parallel circuit connection with high external resistances (>100 Ω). This reversal current consequently reduced the electrochemical performance of some MFC modules and led to a lower power density in parallel circuit connection than that in independent circuit connection. While increasing the influent COD concentrations from 200 to 800 mg/L at hydraulic retention time of 1.25 h in continuous operation mode, the power density of stacked MFC increased from 25.6 ± 2.5 to 42.1 ± 1.2 W/m(3) and the COD removal rates increased from 1.3 to 5.2 kg COD/(m(3) d). This study demonstrated that this novel MFC stack configuration coupling with GAC packed bed electrode could be a feasible strategy to effectively scale up MFC systems.

Heinz Hiegemann, Daniel Herzer, Edith Nettmann et al.

Bioresource Technology • 2016

A 45-L pilot MFC system, consisting of four single-chamber membraneless MFCs, was integrated into a full-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and operated under practical conditions with the effluent of the primary clarifier for nine months to identify an optimal operational strategy for stable power output and maximum substrate based energy recovery (Normalized Energy Recovery, NER). Best results with the MFC were obtained at a hydraulic retention time of 22h with COD, TSS and nitrogen removal of 24%, 40% and 28%, respectively. Mean NER of 0.36kWhel/kgCOD,deg and coulombic efficiency of 24.8% were reached. Experimental results were used to set up the first described energy balance for a whole WWTP with an integrated MFC system. Energetic calculations of the model WWTP showed that energy savings due to reduced excess sludge production and energy gain of the MFC are significantly higher than the loss of energy due to reduced biogas production.

Fabian Fischer, Marc Sugnaux, Cyrille Savy et al.

Applied Energy • 2018

Tahseen Hameed Khlaif

Process Biochemistry • 2024

Agnese Lai, Roberta Verdini, Mario Simone et al.

New Biotechnology • 2016

A sequential reductive-oxidative treatment was developed in this study in a continuous-flow bioelectrochemical reactor to address bioremediation of groundwater contaminated by trichloroethene (TCE) and less-chlorinated but still harmful intermediates, such as vinyl chloride. In order to optimize the anodic compartment, whereby the oxygen-driven microbial oxidation of TCE-daughter products occurs, abiotic batch experiments were performed with various anode materials poised at +1.20 V vs. SHE (i.e., graphite rods and titanium mesh anode coated with mixed metal oxides (MMO)) and setups (i.e., electrodes embedded within a bed of silica beads or graphite granule). The MMO anode displayed higher efficiency (>90%) for oxygen generation compared to the graphite electrodes. Additionally, the graphite bed presence adversely affects oxygen generation, likely due to the oxygen scavenging. This effect was completely eliminated by replacing the graphite granules with silica beads. The anodic setups were thereafter verified in a mentioned reactor at an applied TCE loading rate of approximately 20 μM d -1 and a hydraulic retention time of 1.4 d in each compartment. The cathode consisted of a bed of graphite granules and was potentiostatically controlled at -0.65 V vs. SHE. The best reactor performance in terms of removal efficiency (i.e., >97%), removal rate (i.e., 121.8 ± 2.7 μeq L -1 d -1 ), and the residual concentration (i.e., 5.03 ± 0.63 μeq L -1 ) of chlorinated contaminants was achieved with the MMO anode placed in a silica bed. Ecotoxicity tests performed with algae confirmed these results by showing progressive toxicity reduction from inlet to cathodic and anodic effluent using this reactor configuration.

Deepak Pant, Sunil A. Patil

Joule • 2022

Maallah R, Moutcine A, Chtaini A

Journal of Biosensors & Bioelectronics • 2016

Edogiawerie Lydia O, Lekeka Biniam Bekele, Tyohule Philp Aondongu et al.

International Journal of Scientific Development and Research • 2025

Shiwu Qian, Chenyu Wang, Changxiang Fang et al.

Nature Communications • 2025

Understanding the extracellular electron transfer (EET) process of electroactive bacteria is of great significance. It is critical yet challenging to differentiate the partial currents from direct (DET) and mediated electron transfer (MET) pathways in the integrated EET current. Herein the EET current of model exoelectrogen is successfully disentangled by using spatiotemporally-resolved oblique-incidence reflection difference (OIRD) technique coupled with polyaniline (PANI)-based dual electrode. The PANI film serves as an electron acceptor to translate the charge information into OIRD signals, enabling mapping of EET current. Upon complete reduction of PANI, the local EET current is switched off, and the soluble mediators are forced to discharge on the nearby PANI electrode, enabling measuring of MET current. In such a way, the DET and MET currents are measured and the average currents from each bacterium are quantified. As-reported method enables successful disentangling the EET current and may offer valuable insights to related research.

Abdullah, Katarzyna Krukiewicz

Electrochimica Acta • 2023

Ingrid Maldonado, Franz Zirena Vilca

Environmental Technology Reviews • 2025

Zohreh Moghiseh, Abbas Rezaee

Environmental Science and Pollution Research • 2021