Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University), Ministry of Education, China; College of Life Science, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, 541004, China; School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China; Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Control and Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China.
School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China; Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China; College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fujian Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, 350007, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2020 Dec 1;205:111174. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.111174. Epub 2020 Aug 24.
Smelting wastewater is characterized with high concentration of toxic heavy metals and high acidity, which must be properly treated before discharge. Here, bioelectrochemical system (BES) coupled with thermoelectric generator (TEG) was first demonstrated to simultaneously treat organic wastewater and smelting wastewater by utilizing the simulated waste heat that was abundant in smelting factories. By modulating the input voltage generated from simulated waste heat via TEG to 0, 1.0 and 2.0 V, almost all the Cu, Cd and Co in smelting wastewater were sequentially recovered with a respective rate of 121.17, 158.20 and 193.87 mg L d. Cu was bioelectrochemically recovered as Cu. While, Cd and Co were recovered by electrodeposition as Cd(OH), CdCO or Co(OH) on cathodic surface. High throughput sequencing analysis showed that the microbial community of anodic biofilm was greatly shifted after successive treatment by batch-mode. Desulfovibrio (17.00%), Megasphaera (11.81%), Geobacter (10.36%) and Propionibacterium (8.64%) were predominant genera in anodic biofilm enriched from activated sludge in BES before treatment. After successive treatment by batch-mode, Geobacter (34.76%), Microbacter (8.60%) and Desulfovibrio (5.33%) were shifted as the major genera. Economic analysis revealed that it was feasible to use TEG to substitute electrical grid energy to integrate with BES for wastewater treatment. In addition, literature review indicated that it was not uncommon for the coexistence of waste heat with typical pollutants (e.g. heavy metal ions and various biodegradation-resistant organic wastes) that could be treated by BES in different kinds of factories or geothermal sites. This study provides novel insights to expand the application potentials of BES by integrating with TEG to utilize widespread waste heat.
冶炼废水具有高浓度有毒重金属和高酸度的特点，在排放前必须进行适当处理。在这里，首次展示了生物电化学系统（BES）与温差发电（TEG）相结合，通过利用冶炼厂中丰富的模拟废热，同时处理有机废水和冶炼废水。通过调节 TEG 产生的模拟废热输入电压为 0、1.0 和 2.0 V，可以依次回收冶炼废水中的几乎所有 Cu、Cd 和 Co，回收率分别为 121.17、158.20 和 193.87 mg L d。Cu 通过生物电化学回收为 Cu。而 Cd 和 Co 通过在阴极表面电沉积为 Cd(OH)、CdCO 或 Co(OH)回收。高通量测序分析表明，在分批处理后，阳极生物膜的微生物群落发生了很大变化。在处理前从 BES 中的活性污泥中富集的阳极生物膜中，脱硫弧菌（17.00%）、巨大球菌（11.81%）、产电菌（10.36%）和丙酸杆菌（8.64%）是主要属。在分批处理后，产电菌（34.76%）、微杆菌（8.60%）和脱硫弧菌（5.33%）成为主要属。经济分析表明，使用 TEG 替代电网能源与 BES 集成进行废水处理是可行的。此外，文献综述表明，在不同类型的工厂或地热场中，废热与典型污染物（如重金属离子和各种难生物降解的有机废物）共存并不罕见，这些污染物可以通过 BES 进行处理。本研究通过与 TEG 集成利用广泛的废热，为扩展 BES 的应用潜力提供了新的见解。
