Microbial Structure and Energy Generation in Microbial Fuel Cells Powered with Waste Anaerobic Digestate

Dawid Nosek and Agnieszka Cydzik-Kwiatkowska
Additional contact information
Dawid Nosek: Department of Environmental Biotechnology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Słoneczna 45 G, 10-709 Olsztyn, Poland
Agnieszka Cydzik-Kwiatkowska: Department of Environmental Biotechnology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Słoneczna 45 G, 10-709 Olsztyn, Poland

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-12

Abstract: Development of economical and environment-friendly Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) technology should be associated with waste management. However, current knowledge regarding microbiological bases of electricity production from complex waste substrates is insufficient. In the following study, microbial composition and electricity generation were investigated in MFCs powered with waste volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from anaerobic digestion of primary sludge. Two anode sizes were tested, resulting in organic loading rates (OLRs) of 69.12 and 36.21 mg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/(g MLSS?d) in MFC1 and MFC2, respectively. Time of MFC operation affected the microbial structure and the use of waste VFAs promoted microbial diversity. High abundance of Deftia sp. and Methanobacterium sp. characterized start-up period in MFCs. During stable operation, higher OLR in MFC1 favored growth of exoelectrogens from Rhodopseudomonas sp. (13.2%) resulting in a higher and more stable electricity production in comparison with MFC2. At a lower OLR in MFC2, the percentage of exoelectrogens in biomass decreased, while the abundance of genera Leucobacter, Frigoribacterium and Phenylobacterium increased. In turn, this efficiently decomposed complex organic substances, favoring high and stable COD removal (over 85%). Independent of the anode size, Clostridium sp. and exoelectrogens belonging to genera Desulfobulbus and Acinetobacter were abundant in MFCs powered with waste VFAs.

Keywords: MFC; Rhodopseudomonas; anode surface; waste VFA; NGS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4712/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4712/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:18:p:4712-:d:411435

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().