The effect of clogging on the long-term stability of different carbon fiber brushes in microbial fuel cells for brewery wastewater treatment

Brunschweiger, S.; Ojong, Emile Tabu; Weißer, Jana; Schwaferts, Christian; Elsner, Martin; Ivleva, Natalia P.; Haseneder, Roland; Hofmann, Thomas; Glas, Karl

doi:10.1016/j.biteb.2020.100420

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…In this investigation, for cavities in bioanodes between 100 and 500 µm, the limiting factor for the development of the biofilm was determined to be the accumulation of metabolites that triggers local acidification. As a consequence of these results, this same structure could be relevant to carry or remove other substances related to the microbial metabolism (e.g., substrate, inhibitors, protons), highlighting the importance of the optimization of the volume/active area electrode relationship in different applications of METs, an aspect which has been remarked on in other studies [33][34][35][36]. The behaviour of carbon felt anodes without attached biofilm has not been analysed in this study, since there is an extensive literature on the subject and the results obtained have been acceptably consistent with the expected cavity distributions [37,38].…”

Section: Oxygen Concentration Profile Within the Biofilmmentioning

confidence: 55%

Characterization of Anaerobic Biofilms Growing on Carbon Felt Bioanodes Exposed to Air

et al. 2020

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The role of oxygen in anodic biofilms is still a matter of debate. In this study, we tried to elucidate the structure and performance of an electrogenic biofilm that develops on air-exposed, carbon felt electrodes, commonly used in bioelectrochemical systems. By simultaneously recording the current density produced by the bioanode and dissolved oxygen concentration, both inside and in the vicinity of the biofilm, it was possible to demonstrate the influence of a protective aerobic layer present in the biofilm (mainly formed by Pseudomonas genus bacteria) that prevents electrogenic bacteria (such as Geobacter sp.) from hazardous exposure to oxygen during its normal operation. Once this protective barrier was deactivated for a long period of time, the catalytic capacity of the biofilm was severely affected. In addition, our results highlighted the importance of the material’s porous structure for oxygen penetration in the electrode.

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Section: Oxygen Concentration Profile Within the Biofilmmentioning

confidence: 55%

Characterization of Anaerobic Biofilms Growing on Carbon Felt Bioanodes Exposed to Air

et al. 2020

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“…In particular, MFCs with carbon fiber brush anodes already achieved higher power densities than MFCs with other anode materials (e.g., graphite granules, carbon cloth) due to their large surface area (Lanas and Logan 2013). Their ease of fabrication and good scalability make them a promising anode material (Logan et al 2007), although compared to planar electrodes pressed against a separator, their use results in larger electrode spacing and clogging of the fibers could reduce performance (Janicek et al 2014;Brunschweiger et al 2020b). Therefore, carbon fiber brush anodes have already been used in several MFC studies for wastewater treatment not only at laboratory scale (Hays et al 2011;Lanas et al 2014;Brunschweiger et al 2020b;Littfinski et al 2021) but also at pilot scale (Dong et al 2015;Feng et al 2014;Hiegemann et al 2019).…”

Section: Mfc Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Clogging tendency of fibers and the distance between anode and cathode (Figure 4.1B) also affects the power density of MFCs (Logan et al 2015;Brunschweiger et al 2020b). Reducing the brush diameter to 3 cm stabilizes the brush configuration and prevents clogging in MFC 2.0, as clogging could already be reduced by using 5 cm diameter brushes (Brunschweiger et al 2020b). In addition, a reduced brush diameter allows the design of more compact reactors and may have the benefit of a larger number of current collectors (Lanas et al 2014).…”

Section: Enhancement Of the Mfc Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sensor spot on the lid of the MFC 2.0 allowed an invasive measurement to monitor the oxygen concentration in the wastewater, which could be entered via the membrane or via process control. Fouling of the membranes can lead to a loss of power density after prolonged operation, as diffusion through the membrane is impeded and internal resistance increases (Brunschweiger et al 2020b;Hiegemann et al 2019). Thus, the decrease in power density over time described in publication 3 could be extended by initiating cleaning in time by the implementation of the fouling sensor.…”

Section: Enhancement Of the Mfc Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Benchmark and strategy development for microbial fuel cells in industrial wastewater treatment

Brunschweiger¹,

Hofmann²

2023

Lebensmittelchemie

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The chemical energy hidden in wastewater can be extracted, turning an energy‐intensive treatment process into an energy‐independent one. However, conventional aerobic treat‐ ment is very energy intensive, and anaerobic treatment requires a post‐treatment step to meet stringent discharge requirements. Therefore, Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) have attracted a lot of attention because of their ability to extract electrical energy directly from wastewater during the treatment process. Since combustion losses can be avoided, theoretically the greatest energy value can be obtained from the organic load. However, most MFC research is currently still taking place on a laboratory scale in the treatment of synthetic or municipal wastewater. Commercialization of MFC technology will require large‐scale plants, for which a suitable MFC design and operation concepts must first be identified, since neither configuration nor operating system has been clearly established yet. In addition, no specific concepts and application fields currently exist for the treat‐ ment of industrial wastewater.Consequently, with regard to MFCs in industrial wastewater treatment, the aim of this work is to develop a benchmark that serves for modeling the required overall efficiency of MFCs and to identify the most relevant key factors in order to derive enhancement strate‐ gies. By providing an overview of current MFCs in industrial wastewater treatment and developing a benchmark, the targets for long‐term operation of MFCs can be established allowing critical factors for design and operation to be identified. The resulting enhance‐ ment strategies were validated and the overall evaluation with the developed benchmark allowed an assessment regarding the commercialization potential.Compared to the first MFC design (MFC 1.0), the enhanced MFC design (MFC 2.0) increased the power density by a factor of up to 11 and extended the long‐term stability to one year by increasing the specific cathode surface area and reducing the electrode spacing in conjunction with avoiding fiber clogging on the anode side. In addition to using beneficial brewery wastewater with high content of easily degradable organic acids and high conductivity, the performance of the MFC was further stabilized and improved by changing the operating mode to continuous operation and reducing the hydraulic re‐ tention time to 6 h, resulting in a mean organic removal rate of 6.5 ± 1.9 kg/(m3 · d). Although the overall energy efficiency is low compared to anaerobic treatment, the enor‐ mous wastewater treatment potential forms the basis for MFCs to become an alternative to conventional treatment technologies if self‐sufficient treatment is targeted. Due to the wide range of operating conditions and the modularity of stack systems, MFCs can become a promising option especially for industrial wastewater treatment.

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Microbial Fuel Cell as an Approach for Bioremediation of Emerging Contaminants

Thulluru,

Raj,

Chowdhury

et al. 2023

Management and Mitigation of Emerging Pollutants

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The effect of clogging on the long-term stability of different carbon fiber brushes in microbial fuel cells for brewery wastewater treatment

Cited by 12 publications

References 32 publications

Characterization of Anaerobic Biofilms Growing on Carbon Felt Bioanodes Exposed to Air

Characterization of Anaerobic Biofilms Growing on Carbon Felt Bioanodes Exposed to Air

Benchmark and strategy development for microbial fuel cells in industrial wastewater treatment

Microbial Fuel Cell as an Approach for Bioremediation of Emerging Contaminants

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