title: Enhancement in current density and energy conversion efficiency of 3-dimensional MFC anodes using pre-enriched consortium and continuous supply of electron donors.
abstract: Using a pre-enriched microbial consortium as the inoculum and continuous supply of carbon source, improvement in performance of a three-dimensional, flow-through MFC anode utilizing ferricyanide cathode was investigated. The power density increased from 170 W/m(3) (1800 mW/m(2)) to 580 W/m(3) (6130 mW/m(2)), when the carbon loading increased from 2.5 g/l-day to 50 g/l-day. The coulombic efficiency (CE) decreased from 90% to 23% with increasing carbon loading. The CEs are among the highest reported for glucose and lactate as the substrate with the maximum current density reaching 15.1A/m(2). This suggests establishment of a very high performance exoelectrogenic microbial consortium at the anode. A maximum energy conversion efficiency of 54% was observed at a loading of 2.5 g/l-day. Biological characterization of the consortium showed presence of Burkholderiales and Rhodocyclales as the dominant members. Imaging of the biofilms revealed thinner biofilms compared to the inoculum MFC, but a 1.9-fold higher power density.
authors.affiliation: BioSciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6226, USA.
authors.forename: Abhijeet P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Borole
authors.forename: Choo Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: Tatiana A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Vishnivetskaya
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D044822:Biodiversity; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D003470:Culture Media; D004566:Electrodes; D004583:Electrons; D005292:Ferricyanides / Q000737:chemistry; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D005292:Ferricyanides; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; C007931:hexacyanoferrate III