Comprehensive performance, bacterial community structure of single-chamber microbial fuel cell affected by COD/N ratio and physiological stratifications in cathode biofilm

Jianqi Yuan; Haiguang Yuan; Shaobin Huang; Lijie Liu; Feichao Fu; Yongqing Zhang; Fangqin Cheng; Jianfeng Li

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124416

Comprehensive performance, bacterial community structure of single-chamber microbial fuel cell affected by COD/N ratio and physiological stratifications in cathode biofilm

Bioresour Technol. 2021 Jan;320(Pt B):124416. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124416. Epub 2020 Nov 16.

Authors

Jianqi Yuan¹, Haiguang Yuan¹, Shaobin Huang², Lijie Liu¹, Feichao Fu¹, Yongqing Zhang³, Fangqin Cheng⁴, Jianfeng Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, PR China; Guangdong Ecological Environment Control Engineering Technology Research Center, South China University of Technology, Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
² School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, PR China; Guangdong Ecological Environment Control Engineering Technology Research Center, South China University of Technology, Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, PR China. Electronic address: chshuang@scut.edu.cn.
³ School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
⁴ Institute of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Shanxi Collaborative Innovation Center of High Value-added Utilization of Coal-related Wastes, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, PR China.

PMID: 33220541
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124416

Abstract

This study compares the effects and bacterial community structure of single-chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs) in the treatment of NH₄⁺-containing wastewater with different chemical oxygen demand (COD)/N ratios, whilst simultaneously conducting stratification research on the cathode biofilm. To this end, five nitrifier pre-enriched single-chamber MFC reactors are established to treat five different COD/N wastewaters, respectively. The results show that MFCs with low COD/N have better NH₄⁺-N removal, electrochemical performance, but the removal stability and COD removal effect are lower than MFCs with high COD/N. High-throughput sequencing reveals that the anode community structure is weakly affected by the COD/N and is dominated by Geobacter; however, the cathode community is complex and susceptible to the COD/N. Furthermore, the pH profile in the cathode biofilm is characterized by a pH microelectrode and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is used to confirm that the distribution trend of nitrifiers and denitrifiers in cathode biofilm.

Keywords: Cathode biofilm; Denitrification; Microbial fuel cell; Microelectrode; Nitrification; Single-chamber.

MeSH terms

Bioelectric Energy Sources*
Biofilms
Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis
Electricity
Electrodes
In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence
Wastewater

Substances

Waste Water