A combined system of microbial fuel cell and intermittently aerated biological filter for energy self-sufficient wastewater treatment

Dong, Yue; Feng, Yujie; Qu, Youpeng; Du, Yue; Zhou, Xiaoguang; Liu, Jia

doi:10.1038/srep18070

Cited by 53 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Recent studies have demonstrated modular pilot scale MFCs are capable of being self-sufficient in terms of energy (Dong et al, 2015a;Dong et al, 2015b;Ge & He, 2016), so it is not difficult to imagine a larger MFC being built and tested in the near future. A logical next step would be to test the performance and feasibility of multiple "full-size", modular electrode assemblies (anode, cathode, current collectors and separator, if applicable) that could be directly fitted into a demonstration scale system.…”

Section: Economic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Sacrificing power for more cost-effective treatment: A techno-economic approach for engineering microbial fuel cells

Stoll

Trivedi

et al. 2016

Chemosphere

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Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a promising energy-positive wastewater treatment technology, however, the system's cost-effectiveness has been overlooked. In this study, two new anode materials - hard felt (HF) and carbon foam (CF) - were evaluated against the standard graphite brush (GB) to determine if using inexpensive materials with less than ideal properties can achieve more cost-effective treatment than high-cost, high-performing materials. Using domestic wastewater as the substrate, power densities for the GB, HF and CF-MFCs were 393, 339 and 291 mW m(-2) normalized by cathodic surface area, respectively. Higher power densities correlated with larger anodic surface areas and anodic current densities but not with electrical conductivity. Cyclic voltammetry revealed that redox systems used for extracellular electron transport in the GB, HF and CF-MFCs were similar (-0.143 ± 0.046, -0.158 ± 0.004 and -0.100 ± 0.014 V vs. Ag/AgCl) and that the electrochemical kinetics of the MFCs showed no correlation with their respective electrical conductivity. 16S rRNA sequencing showed the GB, HF and CF microbial community compositions were not statistically different while organic removal rates were nearly identical for all MFCs. The HF-MFC generated a power output to electrode cost (W $(-1)) 1.9 times greater than the GB-MFC, despite producing 14% less power and 15% less anodic current, while having 2.6 times less anodic surface area, 2.1 times larger charge transfer resistance and an electrical conductivity three orders of magnitude lower. The results demonstrate that inexpensive materials are capable of achieving more cost-effective treatment than high-performing materials despite generating lower power when treating real wastewater.

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Section: Economic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Sacrificing power for more cost-effective treatment: A techno-economic approach for engineering microbial fuel cells

Stoll

Trivedi

et al. 2016

Chemosphere

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“…One way to tackle this challenge is to integrate BESs with other conventional wastewater treatment processes [15,16]. So far, MFCs combined with an anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactor [17] or aerated biological filters [18,19] have been reported. These hybrid reactors are two-stage processes, consist of two separate reactors, and are not integrated as a single reactor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Structure Analyses of Anodic Biofilms in a Bioelectrochemical System Combined with an Aerobic Reactor

et al. 2019

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Bioelectrochemical system (BES)-based reactors have a limited range of use, especially in aerobic conditions, because these systems usually produce current from exoelectrogenic bacteria that are strictly anaerobic. However, some mixed cultures of bacteria in aerobic reactors can form surface biofilms that may produce anaerobic conditions suitable for exoelectrogenic bacteria to thrive. In this study, we combined a BES with an aerobic trickling filter (TF) reactor for wastewater treatment and found that the BES-TF setup could produce electricity with a coulombic efficiency of up to 15% from artificial wastewater, even under aerobic conditions. The microbial communities within biofilms formed at the anodes of BES-TF reactors were investigated using high throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Efficiency of reduction in chemical oxygen demand and total nitrogen content of wastewater using this system was >97%. Bacterial community analysis showed that exoelectrogenic bacteria belonging to the genera Geobacter and Desulfuromonas were dominant within the biofilm coating the anode, whereas aerobic bacteria from the family Rhodocyclaceae were abundant on the surface of the biofilm. Based on our observations, we suggest that BES-TF reactors with biofilms containing aerobic bacteria and anaerobic exoelectrogenic bacteria on the anodes can function in aerobic environments.

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“…In the last decade, MFCs have been studied extensively in the laboratory, but so far only a few on-site pilot-scale (>10 L) bioelectrochemical systems have been built and tested, attaining varying levels of success [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Recent pilot studies have demonstrated that MFCs can be self-sufficient [5,7,12], in the sense that the energy captured from the MFCs could be used to power the feed and/or recirculation pump(s).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimum Performance Requirements for Microbial Fuel Cells to Achieve Energy-Neutral Wastewater Treatment

Stoll

Dolfing

2018

Water

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Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have recently achieved energy-positive wastewater treatment at pilot scale. Despite these achievements, there is still a limited understanding as to whether all wastewaters contain sufficient amounts of energy and, if so, whether MFCs can capture a sufficient amount of energy to offset electrical energy requirements in the wastewater treatment process. Currently, there are no tools or methods available that can determine whether an MFC can be energy-neutral a priori. To address this, we derived a simple relationship by setting the electrical energy requirements of a wastewater treatment facility equal to the net energy output of the MFC, such that the resulting expression describes the minimum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal needed to achieve energy-neutral treatment. The resulting equation is simply a function of electrical energy requirements, Coulombic Efficiency, and cell voltage. This work provides the first ever quantitative method for determining if the MFCs are feasible to achieve energy-neutral treatment for a given wastewater and what level of performance is needed.

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A combined system of microbial fuel cell and intermittently aerated biological filter for energy self-sufficient wastewater treatment

Cited by 53 publications

References 26 publications

Sacrificing power for more cost-effective treatment: A techno-economic approach for engineering microbial fuel cells

Sacrificing power for more cost-effective treatment: A techno-economic approach for engineering microbial fuel cells

Community Structure Analyses of Anodic Biofilms in a Bioelectrochemical System Combined with an Aerobic Reactor

Minimum Performance Requirements for Microbial Fuel Cells to Achieve Energy-Neutral Wastewater Treatment

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