Electricity and disinfectant production from wastewater: Microbial Fuel Cell as a self-powered electrolyser

Gajda, Iwona; Greenman, John; Melhuish, Chris; Ieropoulos, Ioannis A.

Abstract

This study presents a simple and sustainable Microbial Fuel Cell as a standalone, self-powered reactor for in situ wastewater electrolysis, recovering nitrogen from wastewater. A process is proposed whereby the MFC electrical performance drives the electrolysis of wastewater towards the self-generation of catholyte within the same reactor. The MFCs were designed to harvest the generated catholyte in the internal chamber, which showed that liquid production rates are largely proportional to electrical current generation. The catholyte demonstrated bactericidal properties, compared to the control (open-circuit) diffusate, and reduced observable biofilm formation on the cathode electrode. Killing effects were confirmed using bacterial kill curves constructed by exposing a bioluminescent Escherichia coli target, as a surrogate coliform, to catholyte where a rapid kill rate was observed. Therefore, MFCs could serve as a water recovery system, a disinfectant/cleaner generator that limits undesired biofilm formation and as a washing agent in waterless urinals to improve sanitation. This simple and ready to implement MFC system can convert organic waste directly into electricity and self-driven nitrogen along with water recovery. This could lead to the development of energy positive bioprocesses for sustainable wastewater treatment.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 15, 2016
• Publication Date: May 12, 2016
• Deposit Date: Apr 18, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: May 16, 2016
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 25571
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep25571
• Keywords: microbial fuel cell, internal cathode, catholyte generation, ammonia stripping, antimicrobial catholyte, ECAS, electrolysis
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/912029
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep25571
• Contract Date: Apr 18, 2016