Investigating bacterial community changes and organic substrate degradation in microbial fuel cells operating on real human urine

Barbosa, Sónia; Peixoto, L.; Heijne, Annemiek ter; Kuntke, Philipp; Alves, M. M.; Pereira, M. A.

doi:10.1039/c7ew00087a

Cited by 41 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…In a BES, the current density depends on the oxidation of organic matter (COD) by microorganisms. The oxidation of organic matter by microorganisms, in turn, depends on the amount and nature of organic compounds, anode potential and other factors also affecting the microorganisms, such as pH . At the same time, the COD:TAN ratio of a certain wastewater is fixed, so manipulating the TAN loading rate also would affect the COD loading and therefore the current density.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The oxidation of organic matter by microorganisms, in turn, depends on the amount and nature of organic compounds, anode potential and other factors also affecting the microorganisms, such as pH. [22][23][24] At the same time, the COD:TAN ratio of a certain wastewater is fixed, so manipulating the TAN loading rate also would affect the COD loading and therefore the current density. The load ratio, thus, might be a difficult parameter to control in a BES.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The concept of load ratio applied to bioelectrochemical systems for ammonia recovery

Arredondo

Kuntke²,

Heijne

et al. 2019

J of Chemical Tech & Biotech

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BACKGROUND The load ratio is a crucial parameter to optimize the current driven recovery of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) from urine. The load ratio is the ratio between the current density and the TAN loading rate. It is currently not known if the load ratio concept applies to a bioelectrochemical system (BES) because the current density and TAN loading rate cannot be controlled independently. RESULTS We found a clear increasing trend in TAN removal efficiency with respect to load ratio in the BES for both human and synthetic urine. The maximum TAN removal efficiency was 60.9% at a load ratio of 0.7, corresponding to a TAN transport rate of 119 gN m−2 day−1 at an electrical energy input of 1.9 kWh kgN−1 (synthetic urine). Low load ratios (<1) were obtained, indicating that the current was not enough to transport all the TAN across the membrane. CONCLUSIONS BES and ES show the same general relationship between TAN removal efficiency and load ratio. Therefore, given a stable current density, the concept of load ratio can also predict the TAN removal efficiency in BES. Higher current densities, and insights into the factors limiting current, are needed to increase the load ratio and therefore the TAN removal efficiency. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The concept of load ratio applied to bioelectrochemical systems for ammonia recovery

Arredondo

Kuntke²,

Heijne

et al. 2019

J of Chemical Tech & Biotech

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“…By contrast, other studies have found no negative effects on the bioanode performance at neutral anolyte pH and concentrations of up to 5 g L -1 [194], at anolyte pH around 8 with a TAN concentration of 3.9 g L -1 [195] and even at anolyte pH of 8.85 and a TAN concentration of 4 g L -1 [69]. Several studies report that the inhibition effects can be overcome by acclimatizing the system to increasingly high TAN concentrations, and it has been found that higher current densities are reached in acclimatized BES compared to controls without acclimatization [171,196]. Other studies, however, report inhibition even after acclimatization periods [190,192].…”

Section: Probable Toxicity Of Urine To Microorganisms In Besmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stress due to high conductivity of the medium has also been suggested as a cause of inhibition at high TAN concentrations. This effect was studied on Corynebacterium glutamicum (which has been found in the microbial community of urine MFCs [171]), Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis [198]. All three bacteria were resistant to ammonium up until a concentration of around 1 M (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 (28 gTAN L -1 ), where growth inhibition was observed.…”

Section: Probable Toxicity Of Urine To Microorganisms In Besmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a BES, the current density depends on the oxidation of organic matter (COD) by microorganisms. The oxidation of organic matter by microorganisms, in turn, depends on the amount and nature of organic compounds, anode potential, and other factors also affecting the microorganisms, such as pH [161,171,172]. At the same time, the COD/TAN ratio of a certain wastewater is fixed, so manipulating the TAN loading rate would also affect the COD loading and therefore the current density.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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(Bio)electrochemical recovery of ammonia from urine

Arredondo¹

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Results and discussion 5.4 Supporting information CHAPTER 6. General discussion and future perspectives 6.1 TAN recovery in (B)ES: State-of-the-art and limitations of the load ratio concept 6.2 Urine in (B)ES: opportunities and obstacles 6.3 Future perspectives and recommendations References Summary List of publications Acknowledgements CHAPTER 1 General introduction General introduction | 11 1 The invention of the Haber-Bosch process was a collaboration between Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch. Fritz Haber successfully synthesized ammonia from N 2 and hydrogen (H 2) in 1908, and only four years later, his laboratory setup had been upscaled to an industrial level by Carl Bosch [3, 4]. Around 80% of the ammonia produced globally by the Haber-Bosch process is used for the production of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers [4-6]. The role of the Haber-Bosch process in our modern agriculture is so crucial that, by 2008, almost half of the world's population was sustained by food produced with synthetic nitrogen fertilizers [3]. The production of ammonia via the Haber-Bosch process is energetically very demanding: it consumes 1-2% of the global energy supply [3, 6-9] and accounts for 3-5% of the global natural gas consumption [10]. N 2 is widely available in the atmosphere, where it accounts for 78% of all gases, but it is inert and very stable due to the strong triple bond shared by the two nitrogen atoms [9, 11, 12]. The nitrogen bond needs to be split up in order to reduce N 2 to bioavailable NH 3 , which requires a catalyst, high temperatures and pressures (α-iron or ruthenium catalyst, 350-550 °C, 150-350 atm [13]). Furthermore, the H 2 used in the Haber-Bosch process is mostly obtained from fossil fuels (mainly natural gas (72%) and coal (22%) [6]), which makes the process energy-intensive and results in emissions of large amounts of CO 2. In the Netherlands, for example, the CO 2 emissions from ammonia production account for 2% of all greenhouse gas emissions [14]. Even though the Haber-Bosch process has been optimized by using novel catalysts [11] or hydrogen produced by more sustainable processes (such as by water electrolysis [7]), its use of fossil fuels is currently the most economical and mature option [6, 15]. Consequences of our intervention on the nitrogen cycle The introduction of the Haber-Bosch process significantly increased the amount of biologically available nitrogen on Earth, causing an imbalance in the nitrogen cycle (Figure 1.1). Nowadays, over half of the nitrogen received by the world's crops comes from synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, so the amount of global nitrogen fixation has doubled [4]. This has led to an accumulation of reactive nitrogen in natural ecosystems, resulting in severe environmental consequences. General introduction | 13 1 1.2 Ammonia removal from wastewater 1.2.1 Why do we need to remove it? Apart from volatilization, denitrification, leaching, and runoff from agriculture, nitrogen also ends up in the environment via the discharge of wastewater. As plants are consumed by animals and...

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Urine in Bioelectrochemical Systems: An Overall Review

et al. 2020

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In recent years, human urine has been successfully used as an electrolyte and organic substrate in bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) mainly due of its unique properties. Urine contains organic compounds that can be utilised as a fuel for energy recovery in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and it has high nutrient concentrations including nitrogen and phosphorous that can be concentrated and recovered in microbial electrosynthesis cells and microbial concentration cells. Moreover, human urine has high solution conductivity, which reduces the ohmic losses of these systems, improving BES output. This review describes the most recent advances in BESs utilising urine. Properties of neat human urine used in state‐of‐the‐art MFCs are described from basic to pilot‐scale and real implementation. Utilisation of urine in other bioelectrochemical systems for nutrient recovery is also discussed including proofs of concept to scale up systems.

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Investigating bacterial community changes and organic substrate degradation in microbial fuel cells operating on real human urine

Abstract: New insights are reported on the degradation of organics in urine, changes in the anodic bacterial community and MFC performance on urine.

Cited by 41 publications

References 48 publications

The concept of load ratio applied to bioelectrochemical systems for ammonia recovery

The concept of load ratio applied to bioelectrochemical systems for ammonia recovery

(Bio)electrochemical recovery of ammonia from urine

Urine in Bioelectrochemical Systems: An Overall Review

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