Alkotaini Bassam, Tinucci Samantha L, Robertson Stuart J, Hasan Kamrul, Minteer Shelley D, Grattieri Matteo
Departments of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, 315 S 1400 E Room 2020, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA.
Present address: BioFire Diagnostics, LLC, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA.
Chembiochem. 2018 Apr 27. doi: 10.1002/cbic.201800142.
A microbial fuel cell (MFC) based on a new wild-type strain of Salinivibrio sp. allowed the self-sustained treatment of hypersaline solutions (100 g L , 1.71 m NaCl), reaching a removal of (87±11) % of the initial chemical oxygen demand after five days of operation, being the highest value achieved for hypersaline MFC. The degradation process and the evolution of the open circuit potential of the MFCs were correlated, opening the possibility for online monitoring of the treatment. The use of alginate capsules to trap bacterial cells, increasing cell density and stability, resulted in an eightfold higher power output, together with a more stable system, allowing operation up to five months with no maintenance required. The reported results are of critical importance to efforts to develop a sustainable and cost-effective system that treats hypersaline waste streams and reduces the quantity of polluting compounds released.
