How Comparable are Microbial Electrochemical Systems around the Globe? An Electrochemical and Microbiological Cross-Laboratory Study

Publications - ISI Article

How Comparable are Microbial Electrochemical Systems around the Globe? An Electrochemical and Microbiological Cross-Laboratory Study

Description

Publications - ISI Article

How Comparable are Microbial Electrochemical Systems around the Globe? An Electrochemical and Microbiological Cross-Laboratory Study

This work presents a study on microbial fuel cells (MFCs) involving several institutions around the world. The study aims to evaluate the development of single-chamber microbial fuel cells inoculated with local wastewater, operated in the same way, with the aim of developing common standards for MFCs.

The acclimatization phase and, consequently, the start-up time were more or less long depending on the inoculum. It should be noted that all the MFCs reached similar maximum powers (55 ± 22 μWcm-2) and COD removal efficiencies (87 ± 9%), despite the diversity of the bacterial communities. It is inferred that MFC performance begins when the syntrophic interaction of fermentative and electrogenic bacteria stabilizes under anaerobic conditions at the anode. The generated power is mostly limited by electrolytic conductivity, electrode surges and unbalanced external resistance. The microbial consortia on the electrodes, although composed of different bacterial groups, share similar functions on both the anode and cathode of the different MFCs, resulting in similar electrochemical output.

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