Electricity and disinfectant production from wastewater: Microbial Fuel Cell as a self-powered electrolyser.

ABSTRACT: This study presents a simple and sustainable Microbial Fuel Cell as a standalone, self-powered reactor for in situ wastewater electrolysis, recovering nitrogen from wastewater. A process is proposed whereby the MFC electrical performance drives the electrolysis of wastewater towards the self-generation of catholyte within the same reactor. The MFCs were designed to harvest the generated catholyte in the internal chamber, which showed that liquid production rates are largely proportional to electrical current generation. The catholyte demonstrated bactericidal properties, compared to the control (open-circuit) diffusate, and reduced observable biofilm formation on the cathode electrode. Killing effects were confirmed using bacterial kill curves constructed by exposing a bioluminescent Esche

SUBMITTER: Gajda I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4865956 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature