Obtaining microbial communities with exoelectrogenic activity from anaerobic sludge using a simplified procedure
Ribot i Llobet, Èdgar (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Montpart i Planell, Núria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Ruiz Franco, Yolanda (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Rago, Laura (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Lafuente Sancho, Francisco Javier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Baeza Labat, Juan Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Guisasola, Albert (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)

Date:	2014
Abstract:	BACKGROUND: The microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology transforms the chemical energy present in substrates into electricity. Starting-up these systems, i. e. enriching the anodic community in exoelectrogenic bacteria, is a lengthy process or requires expensive equipment. - RESULTS: An easy and low-cost procedure based on a sediment MFC was developed to select microbial communities with exoelectrogenic activity from the anaerobic sludge of a waste water treatment plant (WWTP). The configuration was based on a simple vessel working as a single chamber MFC with a cathode of stainless steel wool in the liquid surface and a submerged graphite fibre brush as anode. In 30 days of operation, a biofilm with remarkable exoelectrogenic activity was grown on the anode of the MFC. This graphite fibre brush anode was able to supply 0. 9Wm-2 when working in an air-cathode MFC (AC-MFC) for 45 days. - CONCLUSION:The procedure presented was demonstrated to be a successful, low-costandlow-maintenance procedure to obtain exoelectrogenic activity and had performances comparable with other more costly and complex inoculation procedures. The Sed-MFC does not require a potentiostat, external aeration, stirring, membranes or an enriched inoculum in the exoelectrogenic biomass.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIOSOS Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2009/SGR-815
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Anaerobic sludge ; Exoelectrogenic bacteria ; Microbial fuel cell (MFC) ; Sediment MFC ; Stainless steel cathode
Published in:	Journal of chemical technology and biotechnology, Vol. 89, issue 11 (Nov. 2014) , p. 1727-1732, ISSN 1097-4660

DOI: 10.1002/jctb.4252

Post-print 27 p, 6.0 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Engineering > GENOCOV
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