The use of urban sewage sludge as a substrate in a microbial fuel cell

Abstract

The possibility of using urban sewage sludge from the silt areas of the sewage treatment facilities of the left bank of Irkutsk as a substratum in microbial fuel cells (MFС) was studied. The characteristics of voltage and current intensity generated by the microbiological preparation "Doctor Robik 109" in MFC without taking into account and taking into account the resistance of the external electric circuit are obtained. It is shown that sewage sludge with the addition of peptone and acetate (without the introduction of microorganismsbioagents) is also capable of generating electricity. Presumably, this is due to the presence in the sewage sludge of a large number of microorganisms and their spores. An increase in the total microbial number in the investigated wastewater sediments supports the above hypothesis. The carried out researches testify to the prospects of using MFC for municipal sewage sludge utilization.

Recent progress in microbial fuel cells using substrates from diverse sources

“…Sewage sludge from the primary settling tanks of the domestic wastewater of Irkutsk, Russia, was taken as a substrate source for a double-chamber MFC. A preparation of spores from four soil organisms of Bacillus sp named “Doctor Robik 109” was used as inoculum [ 116 ]. The study shows that after six days of incubation with the bacterial culture and an external resistance of 1 kΩ, a stable OCV of 300 ± 16.1 mV was achieved, and the current was 212.0 ± 15.2 μA.…”