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Strategies for Reducing the Start-up Operation of Microbial Electrochemical Treatments of Urban Wastewater

Author

Listed:
  • Zulema Borjas

    (IMDEAWATER Institute, Scientific-Technological Park of Alcalá, Madrid 28805, Spain)

  • Juan Manuel Ortiz

    (Institute of Electrochemistry, University of Alicante, Alicante 03690, Spain)

  • Antonio Aldaz

    (Institute of Electrochemistry, University of Alicante, Alicante 03690, Spain)

  • Juan Feliu

    (Institute of Electrochemistry, University of Alicante, Alicante 03690, Spain)

  • Abraham Esteve-Núñez

    (IMDEAWATER Institute, Scientific-Technological Park of Alcalá, Madrid 28805, Spain
    Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Alcalá, Madrid 28871, Spain)

Abstract

Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) constitute the core of a number of emerging technologies with a high potential for treating urban wastewater due to a fascinating reaction mechanism—the electron transfer between bacteria and electrodes to transform metabolism into electrical current. In the current work, we focus on the model electroactive microorganism Geobacter sulfurreducens to explore both the design of new start-up procedures and electrochemical operations. Our chemostat-grown plug and play cells, were able to reduce the start-up period by 20-fold while enhancing chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal by more than 6-fold during this period. Moreover, a filter-press based bioreactor was successfully tested for both acetate-supplemented synthetic wastewater and real urban wastewater. This proof-of-concept pre-pilot treatment included a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) followed in time by a microbial fuel cell (MFC) to finally generate electrical current of ca. 20 A·m −2 with a power of 10 W·m −2 while removing 42 g COD day −1 ·m −2 . The effective removal of acetate suggests a potential use of this modular technology for treating acetogenic wastewater where Geobacter sulfurreducens outcompetes other organisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Zulema Borjas & Juan Manuel Ortiz & Antonio Aldaz & Juan Feliu & Abraham Esteve-Núñez, 2015. "Strategies for Reducing the Start-up Operation of Microbial Electrochemical Treatments of Urban Wastewater," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:8:y:2015:i:12:p:12416-14077:d:60532
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kumar, Gopalakrishnan & Bakonyi, Péter & Zhen, Guangyin & Sivagurunathan, Periyasamy & Koók, László & Kim, Sang-Hyoun & Tóth, Gábor & Nemestóthy, Nándor & Bélafi-Bakó, Katalin, 2017. "Microbial electrochemical systems for sustainable biohydrogen production: Surveying the experiences from a start-up viewpoint," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 589-597.
    2. Wenguo Wu & Hao Niu & Dayun Yang & Shi-Bin Wang & Jiefu Wang & Jia Lin & Chaoyi Hu, 2019. "Controlled Layer-By-Layer Deposition of Carbon Nanotubes on Electrodes for Microbial Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Kong, Fanying & Ren, Hong-Yu & Pavlostathis, Spyros G. & Nan, Jun & Ren, Nan-Qi & Wang, Aijie, 2020. "Overview of value-added products bioelectrosynthesized from waste materials in microbial electrosynthesis systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    4. Renata Toczyłowska-Mamińska & Karolina Szymona & Patryk Król & Karol Gliniewicz & Katarzyna Pielech-Przybylska & Monika Kloch & Bruce E. Logan, 2018. "Evolving Microbial Communities in Cellulose-Fed Microbial Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, January.
    5. Bishwambhar Mishra & Sunita Varjani & Gopalakrishnan Kumar & Mukesh Kumar Awasthi & Sanjeev Kumar Awasthi & Raveendran Sindhu & Parameswaran Binod & Eldon R Rene & Zengqiang Zhang, 2021. "Microbial approaches for remediation of pollutants: Innovations, future outlook, and challenges," Energy & Environment, , vol. 32(6), pages 1029-1058, September.

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