Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State MS 39762, USA.
Environ Sci Process Impacts. 2013 Dec;15(12):2178-85. doi: 10.1039/c3em00415e.
Current microbial desalination cell (MDC) performances are evaluated with chemical catalysts such as ferricyanide, platinum catalyzed air-cathodes or aerated cathodes. All of these methods improve power generation potential in MDCs, however, they are not preferable for large scale applications due to cost, energy and environmental toxicity issues. In this study, performance of microbial desalination cells with an air cathode and an algae biocathode (Photosynthetic MDC - PMDC) were evaluated, both under passive conditions (no mechanical aeration or mixing). The results indicate that passive algae biocathodes perform better than air cathodes and enhance COD removal and utilize treated wastewater as the growth medium to obtain valuable biomass for high value bioproducts. Maximum power densities of 84 mW m(-3) (anode volume) or 151 mW m(-3) (biocathode volume) and a desalination rate of 40% were measured with 0.9 : 1 : 0.5 volumetric ratios of anode, desalination and algae biocathode chambers respectively. This first proof-of-concept study proves that the passive mechanisms can be beneficial in enhancing the sustainability of microbial desalination cells.
目前，微生物脱盐电池（MDC）的性能评估采用化学催化剂，如铁氰化物、铂催化空气阴极或充气阴极。所有这些方法都提高了 MDC 的发电潜力，但由于成本、能源和环境毒性问题，它们不适用于大规模应用。在这项研究中，评估了带有空气阴极和藻类生物阴极（光合 MDC-PMDC）的微生物脱盐电池的性能，两者均在被动条件下（无机械曝气或混合）运行。结果表明，被动藻类生物阴极的性能优于空气阴极，并增强 COD 去除，并利用处理后的废水作为生长介质，以获得高价值生物制品的有价值生物量。分别以阳极、脱盐和藻类生物阴极腔的体积比为 0.9:1:0.5 的情况下，最大功率密度为 84 mW m(-3)（阳极体积）或 151 mW m(-3)（生物阴极体积），脱盐率为 40%。这项初步概念验证研究证明，被动机制可以有益于增强微生物脱盐电池的可持续性。
