Microbially driven electro-filtration for recovery of energy, water and nutrients: Transforming urine into bio-fertiliser for growing plants in space missions
Serruys, Iwona; You, Jiseon; Willey, Neil; Thorn, Robin; Reynolds, Darren
Authors
Iwona Serruys Iwona.Gajda@uwe.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Engineering Management
Jiseon You Jiseon.You@uwe.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Engineering/ Project Management
Neil Willey Neil.Willey@uwe.ac.uk
Professor in Env Plant Physiology
Dr Robin Thorn Robin2.Thorn@uwe.ac.uk
Director of Research and Enterprise
Darren Reynolds Darren.Reynolds@uwe.ac.uk
Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research & Knowledge Exchange
Abstract
The study explores the potential of using human urine as a source of energy, water and bio-fertiliser through the application of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) consist of an anode and a cathode. In the anode, bacteria consume organic matter, releasing electrons and protons. The electrons travel through an external circuit to the cathode, generating an electric current, while the cations move through a membrane towards the cathode, where they combine with electrons and oxygen. The movement of ions and water through the membrane, contributes to production of catholyte in this process. The focus of this work is on assessing the suitability of catholyte, produced by electro-filtrating MFCs (EF-MFCs), for hydroponic plant cultivation of basil utilising human urine. EF-MFCs have been developed to generate electricity from human urine and produce valuable byproducts such as catholyte recovering water through self driven electro-filtration. This study aims to showcase the continuous production of catholyte, produced as a byproduct of electric current generation, is a clear, treated, nutrient-rich liquid that is highly suitable for use as a liquid bio-fertiliser for hydroponically grown basil.
