Microbial fuel cell type biosensor for specific volatile fatty acids using acclimated bacterial communities

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are preferred valuable resources, which can be produced from anaerobic digestion process. This study presents a novel technology using β-cyclodextrins (β-CD) pretreatment integrated alkaline method to enhance VFAs production from codigestion of food waste and sewage sludge. Experiment results showed that optimized ratio of food waste to sewage sludge was 3 : 2 because it provided adequate organic substance and seed microorganisms. Based on this optimized ratio, the integrated treatment of alkaline pH 10 and β-CD addition (0.2 g/g TS) performed the best enhancement on VFAs production, and the maximum VFAs production was 8631.7 mg/L which was 6.13, 1.38, and 1.57 times higher than that of control, initial pH 10, and 0.2 g β-CD/g TS treatment, respectively. Furthermore, the hydrolysis rate of protein and polysaccharides was greatly improved in integration treatment, which was 1.18–3.45 times higher than that of other tests. Though the VFAs production and hydrolysis of polymeric organics were highly enhanced, the primary bacterial communities with different treatments did not show substantial differences.

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Factors affecting the performance of a single-chamber microbial fuel cell-type biological oxygen demand sensor

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2013.415 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 68 (9) ◽

pp. 1914-1919 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Gai-Xiu Yang ◽

Yong-Ming Sun ◽

Xiao-Ying Kong ◽

Feng Zhen ◽

Ying Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Microbial Fuel Cell ◽

Microbial Fuel Cells ◽

Low Cost ◽

Oxygen Demand ◽

Response Signal ◽

Cell Type ◽

Single Chamber ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Stable Voltage

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are devices that exploit microorganisms as biocatalysts to degrade organic matter or sludge present in wastewater (WW), and thereby generate electricity. We developed a simple, low-cost single-chamber microbial fuel cell (SCMFC)-type biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) sensor using carbon felt (anode) and activated sludge, and demonstrated its feasibility in the construction of a real-time BOD measurement system. Further, the effects of anodic pH and organic concentration on SCMFC performance were examined, and the correlation between BOD concentration and its response time was analyzed. Our results demonstrated that the SCMFC exhibited a stable voltage after 132 min following the addition of synthetic WW (BOD concentration: 200 mg/L). Notably, the response signal increased with an increase in BOD concentration (range: 5–200 mg/L) and was found to be directly proportional to the substrate concentration. However, at higher BOD concentrations (>120 mg/L) the response signal remained unaltered. Furthermore, we optimized the SCMFC using synthetic WW, and tested it with real WW. Upon feeding real WW, the BOD values exhibited a standard deviation from 2.08 to 8.3% when compared to the standard BOD5 method, thus demonstrating the practical applicability of the developed system to real treatment effluents.

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0935 - Simultaneous selection of soil electroactive bacterial communities associated to anode and cathode in a two-chamber Microbial Fuel Cell

10.26226/morressier.5b5199c1b1b87b000ecee7bd ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Carolina Chiellini ◽

Stefano Mocali

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Microbial Fuel Cell ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Simultaneous Selection ◽

Selection Of

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