First air-tolerant effective stainless steel microbial anode obtained from a natural marine biofilm.
Microbial anodes were constructed with stainless steel electrodes under constant polarisation. The seawater medium was inoculated with a natural biofilm scraped from harbour equipment. This procedure led to efficient microbial anodes providing up to 4A/m(2) for 10mM acetate oxidation at -0.1 V/SCE. The whole current was due to the presence of biofilm on the electrode surface, without any significant involvement of the abiotic oxidation of sulphide or soluble metabolites. Using a natural biofilm as inoculum ensured almost optimal performance of the biofilm anode as soon as it was set up; the procedure also proved able to form biofilms in fully aerated media, which provided up to 0.7A/m(2). The current density was finally raised to 8.2A per square meter projected surface area using a stainless steel grid. The inoculating procedure used here combined with the control of the potential revealed, for the first time, stainless steel as a very competitive material for forming bioanodes with natural microbial consortia.
Erable
Benjamin
B
Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France. Benjamin.Erable@ensiacet.fr
Bergel
Alain
A
D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000382:microbiology*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D004560:Electricity; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D004566:Electrodes / Q000382:microbiology; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology; D013193:Stainless Steel / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors
D013193:Stainless Steel