Investigating bacterial community changes and organic substrate degradation in microbial fuel cells operating on real human urine

Benthic microbial fuel cells (BMFCs) are considered to be one of the eco-friendly bioelectrochemical cell approaches nowadays. The utilization of waste materials in BMFCs is to generate energy and concurrently bioremediate the toxic metals from synthetic wastewater, which is an ideal approach. The use of novel electrode material and natural organic waste material as substrates can minimize the present challenges of the BMFCs. The present study is focused on cellulosic derived graphene-polyaniline (GO-PANI) composite anode fabrication in order to improve the electron transfer rate. Several electrochemical and physicochemical techniques are used to characterize the performance of anodes in BMFCs. The maximum current density during polarization behavior was found to be 87.71 mA/m2 in the presence of the GO-PANI anode with sweet potato as an organic substrate in BMFCs, while the GO-PANI offered 15.13 mA/m2 current density under the close circuit conditions in the presence of 1000 Ω external resistance. The modified graphene anode showed four times higher performance than the unmodified anode. Similarly, the remediation efficiency of GO-PANI was 65.51% for Cd (II) and 60.33% for Pb (II), which is also higher than the unmodified graphene anode. Furthermore, multiple parameters (pH, temperature, organic substrate) were optimized to validate the efficiency of the fabricated anode in different environmental atmospheres via BMFCs. In order to ensure the practice of BMFCs at industrial level, some present challenges and future perspectives are also considered briefly.

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Enhanced Degradation of Atrazine by Soil Microbial Fuel Cells and Analysis of Bacterial Community Structure

Water Air & Soil Pollution ◽

10.1007/s11270-017-3495-1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 228 (8) ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Hui Wang ◽

Lei Li ◽

Xian Cao ◽

Xizi Long ◽

Xianning Li

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cells ◽

Community Structure ◽

Bacterial Community ◽

Microbial Fuel Cells ◽

Bacterial Community Structure ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Enhanced Degradation

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Effects of Cathodic Platinum Loadings and Organic Substrate Concentrations on the Performance of Single Chamber Microbial Fuel Cells Fed with Raw Wastewater

ECS Meeting Abstracts ◽

10.1149/ma2012-02/17/1994 ◽

2012 ◽

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cells ◽

Microbial Fuel Cells ◽

Organic Substrate ◽

Single Chamber ◽

Substrate Concentrations ◽

Raw Wastewater

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Power generation and contaminant removal in single chamber microbial fuel cells (SCMFCs) treating human urine

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy ◽

10.1016/j.ijhydene.2013.02.070 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 38 (26) ◽

pp. 11543-11551 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

C. Santoro ◽

I. Ieropoulos ◽

J. Greenman ◽

P. Cristiani ◽

T. Vadas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Fuel Cells ◽

Human Urine ◽

Microbial Fuel Cells ◽

Contaminant Removal ◽

Single Chamber

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Comparative Study on the Performance of Microbial Fuel Cells and Bacterial Community at Different Temperatures

Journal of Water and Environment Technology ◽

10.2965/jwet.2013.71 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 71-79 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Guangyu ZHOU ◽

Naoki YOKOYAMA ◽

Yuichiro YOSHINO ◽

Takahiro YAMASHITA ◽

Yasunori KAWAGOSHI

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cells ◽

Bacterial Community ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Microbial Fuel Cells ◽

Different Temperatures

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The Dynamics of Electrochemicals and Microbial Populations during Anaerobic Treatment of Human Urine in Soil Microbial Fuel Cells

Asian Journal of Biotechnology and Bioresource Technology ◽

10.9734/ajb2t/2020/v6i230076 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 11-21

Author(s):

H. O. Stanley ◽

C. J. Ugboma

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cells ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Human Urine ◽

Microbial Fuel Cells ◽

Anaerobic Bacteria ◽

Anaerobic Treatment ◽

Microbial Populations ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Microbiological Parameters ◽

Daily Urine

The dynamics of electrochemicals and microbial populations during anaerobic treatment of human urine in soil microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were investigated. The experimental MFC was supplemented with daily urine input while the control MFC was without urine. During the treatment process, electrochemical and microbiological parameters in effluent of the urine-supplemented MFC were monitored using standard methods. The pH of the urine increased from 5.70 to 7.16 after 15 days of treatment in the urine supplemented MFC. The concentration of phosphorus, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, total nitrogen and total organic carbon of the urine reduced from 0.76 g/l to 0.07 g/l, 1.91 g/l to 0.17 g/l, 2.24 g/l to 0.09 g/l, 0.14 g/l to 0.003 g/l, 0.08 g/l to 0.00 g/l, 8.25 g/l to 0.74 g/l and 7.10 g/l to 0.53 g/l respectively after 15 days of treatment. Furthermore, Open voltage of the urine supplemented MFC ranged from 5.63 V to 10.34 V while Open voltage of the control ranged from 1.84 V to 5.02 V after 15 days of operation. The population of facultative bacteria (FAB) and strict anaerobic bacteria (SAB) ranged from 64.2 x 104 CFU to 36.2 x 104 CFU and 21.2 x104 CFU to 61.3 x104 CFU respectively with time. The urine supplemented MFC performed significantly (p < 0.05) better than the control with respect to voltage output while significantly reduced concentrations of organic carbon, nitrogen and metallic (salt) species were found. Therefore, the soil MFC may be applied as a waste management option to treat human urine while generating electricity before disposal.

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