Bristol BioEnergy Centre, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, BS16 1QY, Bristol, UK.
Laboratory of Microbial Electrochemical Systems, Department of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Faculty of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Wyb. Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370, Wrocław, Poland.
Sci Rep. 2019 Aug 13;9(1):11787. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48128-x.
Microbial electrochemical technology is emerging as an alternative way of treating waste and converting this directly to electricity. Intensive research on these systems is ongoing but it currently lacks the evaluation of possible environmental transmission of enteric viruses originating from the waste stream. In this study, for the first time we investigated this aspect by assessing the removal efficiency of hepatitis B core and surface antigens in cascades of continuous flow microbial fuel cells. The log-reduction (LR) of surface antigen (HBsAg) reached a maximum value of 1.86 ± 0.20 (98.6% reduction), which was similar to the open circuit control and degraded regardless of the recorded current. Core antigen (HBcAg) was much more resistant to treatment and the maximal LR was equal to 0.229 ± 0.028 (41.0% reduction). The highest LR rate observed for HBsAg was 4.66 ± 0.19 h and for HBcAg 0.10 ± 0.01 h. Regression analysis revealed correlation between hydraulic retention time, power and redox potential on inactivation efficiency, also indicating electroactive behaviour of biofilm in open circuit control through the snorkel-effect. The results indicate that microbial electrochemical technologies may be successfully applied to reduce the risk of environmental transmission of hepatitis B virus but also open up the possibility of testing other viruses for wider implementation.
微生物电化学技术作为一种处理废物并将其直接转化为电能的替代方法正在兴起。目前，人们正在对这些系统进行深入研究，但缺乏对源自废水的肠道病毒可能通过环境传播的评估。在这项研究中，我们首次通过评估乙型肝炎核心和表面抗原在连续流动微生物燃料电池级联中的去除效率来研究这一方面。表面抗原（HBsAg）的对数减少（LR）达到最大值 1.86 ± 0.20（98.6%减少），与开路控制相似，并且无论记录的电流如何，都会降解。核心抗原（HBcAg）对治疗的抵抗力要强得多，最大 LR 等于 0.229 ± 0.028（41.0%减少）。HBsAg 的最高 LR 率为 4.66 ± 0.19 h，HBcAg 的最高 LR 率为 0.10 ± 0.01 h。回归分析表明水力停留时间、功率和氧化还原电位与失活效率之间存在相关性，这也表明生物膜在开路控制下通过“通气管效应”具有电活性。研究结果表明，微生物电化学技术可成功应用于降低乙型肝炎病毒环境传播的风险，但也为测试其他病毒以更广泛地实施提供了可能性。
