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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Enren Zhang, Emeritus Professor Keith Scott, Xu Wang
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
Air-cathode microbial fuel cells (MFCs), obtained by inoculating with an aerobic activated sludge, from a brewery waste treatment, were activated over a one month period, at pH 10.0, to obtain alkaline MFCs. The alkaline MFCs produced stable power of 118 mW m-2 (or 23.6 W m-3) and a maximum power density of 213 mW m-2 at pH 10.0. The performance of the MFCs was enhanced to produce a stable power of 140 mW m-2 and a maximum power density of 235 mW m-2 by increasing pH to 11.0. This is the highest pH for stably operating MFCs reported in the literature. Power production was found to be suppressed at higher pH (12.0) and lower pH (9.0). Microbial analysis with high-throughput sequencing indicated that Firmicutes phylum was largely enriched in the anodic biofilms (88%), within which Eremococcus genus was the dominant group (47%). To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that Eremococcus genus was described in bio-electrochemical systems. Some alkaliphilic genera, including Bacillus (2.1%), Alkalibacter (5.1%), Anoxynatronum (0.5%), Alkaliphilus (0.09%), Alkaliflexus (2.1%), Nitrincola (1.1%) and Corynebacterium (0.55%) were also enriched in the present alkaline MFCs.
Author(s): Zhang E, Zhaia W, Luoa Y, Scott K, Wang X, Diaoa G
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Bioresource Technology
Year: 2016
Volume: 211
Pages: 736-742
Print publication date: 01/07/2016
Online publication date: 04/04/2016
Acceptance date: 21/03/2016
Date deposited: 11/04/2016
ISSN (print): 0960-8524
ISSN (electronic): 1873-2976
Publisher: Elsevier BV
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.03.115
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.03.115
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