Removal of Coliphage MS2 Using a Microbial Fuel Cell Stack

Abstract

Bioelectrochemical technologies offer alternative ways of treating wastewater and using this process to generate electricity. However, research in this area is just beginning to consider environmental transmission of viruses present in wastewater. The viral fecal indicator coliphage MS2 (the most frequently used pathogen model) was used in this study, since it is a well-known indigenous wastewater virus. The scaled-up bioelectrochemical system had a working volume of 167 L and coliphage MS2 concentration decreased from 8000 to 285 PFU/mL. The kinetics were quantified up to 15 h, after which excessive yeast growth in the system prevented further bacteriophage determination. The logarithmic reduction value (LRV) calculated within the first three hours was 3.8. From 4 hours to 14, LRV values were from 4.1 to 4.8, and in hour 15 the LRV increased to 5.3, yielding a more than 90% reduction. Overall, results obtained indicate that the scaled-up bioelectrochemical treatment system was efficient in reducing coliphage MS2 densities and could be used as a model to explore its further applicability for the reduction of viruses or pathogens in treated effluents.

Craft Brewery Wastewater Treatment in a Scalable Microbial Fuel Cell Stack

“…For COD determination, a standard high-range COD kit (20-1500 mg L −1 ) (Hach Company, Loveland, CO, USA) was used, and measurements were performed in a Hach DRB 200 digester (Hach Company, Loveland, CO, USA) and Hach DR3900 colorimeter (Hach Company, Loveland, CO, USA). pH was measured with a Hach sensION 156 potentiometer (Hach Company, Loveland, CO, USA) [27].…”

“…Nitrogen was used as carrier gas with a flow rate of 1 mL min −1 ; for FID, hydrogen gas, 45 mL min −1 , and extra dry air, 450 mL min −1 , were used. The operating temperatures were 230 • C for the injector, 150, 180, and 230 • C for the oven, and 230 • C in the detector, splitless mode [26,27]. Acetic, propionicand butyric acid were used as standards (45754, P1386, B103500 Merck Mexico, Company, San Andres Atoto, Naucalpan de Juárez, Mexico).…”

“…An anode chamber was built from a PVC reducer (10.16 to 5.08 cm) (Boxito, Merida Yucatan, Mexico), which was used as a support; then a tubular piece of 10.16 cm in diameter and 23 cm in height was placed, in which 1.27 cm holes were made to allow for access of the wastewater to the anode; each perforation had a distance of 4 cm [27].…”

“…A 10 × 10 cm Nafion ® 117 membrane (Fuel Cell Store, College Station, TX, USA) was used, which, before its implementation, was activated as reported by Alzate-Gaviria et al [27] and Atkinson et al [29]. The Nafion 117 ® was attached on the cathode electrode and used as a diffuser; it was initially activated receiving a bath with a 3% hydrogen peroxide (216763 Merck Mexico, Company, San Andres Atoto, Naucalpan de Juárez, Mexico) solution at 100 • C for 1 h, after which it was washed with deionized water at 100 • C for 15 min; after that, it was immersed in a 1 M H 2 SO 4 (258105 Merck Mexico, Company, San Andres Atoto, Naucalpan de Juárez, Mexico) solution at 100 • C for 1 h, and finally a wash was carried out with deionized water at 100 • C for 1 h. Once the process was completed, the membrane was kept in deionized water at room temperature until use.…”

“…A stack was built with nine MFCs, and they were placed in an acrylic cube with dimensions of 60 cm in length, 50 cm in width, and 70 cm in height (Figure 1). The cells were kept in an open circuit during the stabilization stage, and then the circuit was placed in energy recovery, which consisted of capacitors that allowed for energy storage [27,32].…”