Chapter 4. Metal Recovery Using Microbial Electrochemical Technologies

Christgen, Beate; Suarez, A.A.; Milner, Edward M.; Boghani, Hitesh C.; Sadhukhan, Jhuma; Shemfe, Mobolaji; Gadkari, S. K.; Kimber, R.L.; Lloyd, Jonathan R.; Rabaey, Korneel; Feng, Yujie; Premier, GC; Curtis, Tom; Scott, K; Yu, Eileen Hao; Head, Ian M.

doi:10.1039/9781788016353-00087

Cited by 4 publications

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“…Hybrid bio-electrochemical approaches have been used for the recovery of a series of metals ranging from copper and gold, to vanadium, cobalt, and chromium. 56 By combining electron-transfer with microbial processes, there is an avenue to lower energetic costs and an environmentally friendly way to deal with organic content. Furthermore, coupling of bioelectrochemical systems with metal catalysts could even lead to production of electricity.…”

Section: Su (Continued From Previous Page)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrochemistry for a Sustainable World (Fall 2020)

2020

Electrochem. Soc. Interface

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In the fall 2020 issue of Interface, the theme is Electrochemistry for a Sustainable World. There is exclusive coverage of PRiME 2020, along with a feature on Sustainable Green Processes Enabled by Pulse Electrolytic Principles. Readers can also discover the latest COVID-19 community stories in The ECS Community Adapts and Advances Through the Pandemic. In addition, The Chalkboard returns with Picture Your Electrode: A Primer on Scanning Electrochemical Microscope.

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Section: Su (Continued From Previous Page)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrochemistry for a Sustainable World (Fall 2020)

2020

Electrochem. Soc. Interface

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“…These can be simple substrates such as acetate or complex mixtures of organic compounds such as wastewater. In its simplest form, a bioelectrochemical system (BES) consists of an anode, a cathode and a microbial catalyst which can be associated with the anode, the cathode or both (Logan et al, 2006;Rinaldi et al, 2008;Christgen et al, 2020). Exoelectrogenic bacteria have the ability to transfer electrons, from oxidation of organic or inorganic compounds out of the cell to other organisms (e.g., methanogens), an insoluble electron acceptor such as iron oxides or to an electrode in MFCs (Sydow et al, 2014;Logan et al, 2019;Bird et al, 2021;Thapa et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does pre-enrichment of anodes with acetate to select for Geobacter spp. enhance performance of microbial fuel cells when switched to more complex substrates?

Christgen,

Spurr,

Milner

et al. 2023

Front. Microbiol.

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Many factors affect the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Considerable attention has been given to the impact of cell configuration and materials on MFC performance. Much less work has been done on the impact of the anode microbiota, particularly in the context of using complex substrates as fuel. One strategy to improve MFC performance on complex substrates such as wastewater, is to pre-enrich the anode with known, efficient electrogens, such as Geobacter spp. The implication of this strategy is that the electrogens are the limiting factor in MFCs fed complex substrates and the organisms feeding the electrogens through hydrolysis and fermentation are not limiting. We conducted a systematic test of this strategy and the assumptions associated with it. Microbial fuel cells were enriched using three different substrates (acetate, synthetic wastewater and real domestic wastewater) and three different inocula (Activated Sludge, Tyne River sediment, effluent from an MFC). Reactors were either enriched on complex substrates from the start or were initially fed acetate to enrich for Geobacter spp. before switching to synthetic or real wastewater. Pre-enrichment on acetate increased the relative abundance of Geobacter spp. in MFCs that were switched to complex substrates compared to MFCs that had been fed the complex substrates from the beginning of the experiment (wastewater-fed MFCs - 21.9 ± 1.7% Geobacter spp.; acetate-enriched MFCs, fed wastewater - 34.9 ± 6.7% Geobacter spp.; Synthetic wastewater fed MFCs – 42.5 ± 3.7% Geobacter spp.; acetate-enriched synthetic wastewater-fed MFCs - 47.3 ± 3.9% Geobacter spp.). However, acetate pre-enrichment did not translate into significant improvements in cell voltage, maximum current density, maximum power density or substrate removal efficiency. Nevertheless, coulombic efficiency (CE) was higher in MFCs pre-enriched on acetate when complex substrates were fed following acetate enrichment (wastewater-fed MFCs – CE = 22.0 ± 6.2%; acetate-enriched MFCs, fed wastewater – CE =58.5 ± 3.5%; Synthetic wastewater fed MFCs – CE = 22.0 ± 3.2%; acetate-enriched synthetic wastewater-fed MFCs – 28.7 ± 4.2%.) The relative abundance of Geobacter ssp. and CE represents the average of the nine replicate reactors inoculated with three different inocula for each substrate. Efforts to improve the performance of anodic microbial communities in MFCs utilizing complex organic substrates should therefore focus on enhancing the activity of organisms driving hydrolysis and fermentation rather the terminal-oxidizing electrogens.

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“…21,22 The application of MFC technology holds great promise for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater, owing to its distinct ability to facilitate the production of electricity while simultaneously eliminating toxic pollutants. 23 Metal ions such as hexavalent chromium (Cr 6+ ) can be reduced to trivalent (Cr 3+ ) in the cathode chamber by consuming harvested electrons from the anode chamber, and further precipitating the non-toxic chromium Cr 3+ , thus recovering the high purity low toxicity metal. 4 Several studies have explored various approaches for chromium metal removal in MFCs, and factors influencing the efficiency of Cr(VI) reduction such as the concentration and composition of the wastewater, the organic substrates, the type of electrode, the pH of the electrolytes, the stability of the membrane/separator and the microorganism, have also been investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%