Study on Microbial Community Shifts Over Time in Anode Biofilm and Its Correlation with Performance of Microbial Fuel Cell

Abstract

Abstract-The microbial community of a MFC anode bio-film was studied in continuous period over the whole operation process, with corresponding MFC performance investigated. Results clearly showed that in the 75 days' operation, the microbial community changed. Different enrichment processes (over the whole operation process) of the found exoelectrogenic bacteria (previous reported) were observed, including: enriched gradually, sharply or constantly, which indicated their various extracellular electrons transfer mechanisms. Shewanella oneidensis and Rhodospirillum rubrum etc. with gradually increasing enrichment on the anode were finally predominant in the anode biofilm. Correlation analysis showed that the anode microbial community (including both biodiversity and abundance of exoelectrogenic bacteria) and MFC performances (including power generation and coulombic efficiency) have certain correlations, which indicated the anode microbial information can predict the MFC performance. Study of the correlation analysis showed that the abundance of exoelectrogenic bacteria took more responsibility for the coulombic efficiency, comparing to the power generation in MFC.