Department of Environmental Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea.
Department of Environmental Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea.
Chemosphere. 2023 Mar;317:137770. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.137770. Epub 2023 Jan 5.
Most bio-electrochemical systems (BESs) use biotic/abiotic electrode combinations, with platinum-based abiotic electrodes being the most common. However, the non-renewability, cost, and poisonous nature of such electrode systems based on noble metals are major bottlenecks in BES commercialisation. Microbial electrosynthesis (MES), which is a sustainable energy platform that simultaneously treats wastewater and produces chemical commodities, also faces the same problem. In this study, a dual bio-catalysed MES system with a biotic anode and cathode (MES-D) was tested and compared with a biotic cathode/abiotic anode system (MES-S). Different bio-electrochemical tests revealed improved BES performance in MES-D, with a 3.9-fold improvement in current density compared to that of MES-S. Volatile fatty acid (VFA) generation also increased 3.2-, 4.1-, and 1.8-fold in MES-D compared with that in MES-S for acetate, propionate, and butyrate, respectively. The improved performance of MES-D could be attributed to the microbial metabolism at the bioanode, which generated additional electrons, as well as accumulative VFA production by both the bioanode and biocathode chambers. Microbial community analysis revealed the enrichment of electroactive bacteria such as Proteobacteria (60%), Bacteroidetes (67%), and Firmicutes + Proteobacteria + Bacteroidetes (75%) on the MES-S cathode and MES-D cathode and anode, respectively. These results signify the potential of combined bioanode/biocathode BESs such as MES for application in improving energy and chemical commodity production.
大多数生物电化学系统（BES）使用生物/非生物电极组合，其中基于铂的非生物电极最为常见。然而，基于贵金属的此类电极系统的不可再生性、成本和毒性是 BES 商业化的主要瓶颈。微生物电解合成（MES）是一种同时处理废水和生产化学商品的可持续能源平台，也面临着同样的问题。在本研究中，测试并比较了具有生物阳极和阴极的双生物催化 MES 系统（MES-D）和具有生物阴极/非生物阳极系统（MES-S）。不同的生物电化学测试表明，MES-D 中的 BES 性能得到了改善，与 MES-S 相比，电流密度提高了 3.9 倍。与 MES-S 相比，MES-D 中乙酸、丙酸和丁酸的挥发性脂肪酸（VFA）生成分别增加了 3.2 倍、4.1 倍和 1.8 倍。MES-D 的性能提高可归因于生物阳极处的微生物代谢，该代谢产生了额外的电子，以及生物阳极和生物阴极室累积的 VFA 产生。微生物群落分析显示，在 MES-S 阴极和 MES-D 阴极和阳极上，电活性细菌（如 Proteobacteria（60%）、Bacteroidetes（67%）和 Firmicutes+Proteobacteria+Bacteroidetes（75%））得到了富集。这些结果表明，如 MES 等组合生物阳极/生物阴极 BES 具有在提高能源和化学商品生产方面的应用潜力。
