Electrolysis-driven bioremediation of crude oil-contaminated marine sediments

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) Degradation and Detoxification of Water Environment in Single‐chamber Air‐cathode Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs)

“…Interestingly, samples from C 2 (PAHs suspension + bacteria) showed a stimulation affect vs. P.subcapitata, enhancing cell growth (Figure 9). A similar eutrophic effect, but vs. Lepidium sativum, was operated by the same microbial consortium in a bioremediation experiment carried out in a soil microcosm under continuous oxygenation [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]22]. Further studies are still needed to explain this result.…”

“…In , the effectiveness of an electrolysis‐driven approach to speed‐up the remediation of marine sediments contaminated by hydrocarbons was studied while, in , a scaled two chamber MFC, including a 9 m proton bridge to connect the anode to the cathode compartment, was setup for an in situ groundwater remediation experiment, achieving some encouraging results . More than to power production (in most part of cases ranging between dozens to hundreds of mWm −2 of cathode surface), the advantages linked to the utilization of MFC in the remediation field lie in the enhancement of the bioremediation in anaerobic/anoxic environment to values comparable (if not higher) to the equivalent aerobic processes , .…”

“…Nevertheless, PAHs degradation process remains extremely long, requiring from many days to over a month [5]. In recent years, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) technology is increasingly considered for the remediation of sediments and soils contaminated with heavy metals and hydrocarbons, with significant results even in sight of an in-field application [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. A MFC is a mimic of a biological system in which bacteria do not transfer directly electrons produced by their metabolism to chemical electron acceptors but to an electrode, allowing the conversion of chemical energy into electricity [22].…”

Three promising applications of microbial electrochemistry for the water sector

“…Recently, the long-term viability of electrolysis-driven biodegradation of crude oil in marine sediments has been demonstrated. 64 By contrast, exploitation of indirect EET make it more difficult to correlate the electric current with contaminants biodegradation, thus limiting the possibility to use MET also for monitoring and biosensing purposes. Recent studies have revealed that besides engaging in EET with solid-state electrodes, an ever-increasing number of microbes can also exchange metabolic electrons with neighboring microbes, via a process often referred to as direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET).…”

Bioelectrochemical and Conventional Bioremediation of Environmental Pollutants

“…Microbes from sMFCs can be used to seed electrode populations to MECs [125]. Purely electrochemically driven electrolysis in normally anaerobic zones of polluted marine sediments has been shown to accelerate petroleum bioremediation up to 300% [142]. This is likely attributable to the high catabolic rates of aerobic microbes that can be supported using electrolytically generated oxygen from the anode.…”