title: Electricity generation from cattle dung using microbial fuel cell technology during anaerobic acidogenesis and the development of microbial populations.
abstract: A microbial fuel cell (MFC) was constructed to investigate the possible generation of electricity using cattle dung as a substrate. After 30 days of operation, stable electricity was generated, and the maximum volumetric power density was 0.220 W/m(3). The total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) removal and coulombic efficiency (CE) of the MFC reached 73.9±1.8% and 2.79±0.6%, respectively, after 120 days of operation. Acetate was the main metabolite in the anolyte, and other volatile fatty acids (VFAs) (propionate and butyrate) were present in minor amounts. The PCR-DGGE analysis indicated that the following five groups of microbes were present: Proteobacteria, Bacteroides, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the dominant phyla in the sample; specifically, 36.3% and 24.2% of the sequences obtained were Proteobacteria and Firmicutes, respectively. Clostridium sp., Pseudomonas luteola and Ochrobactrum pseudogrignonense were the most dominant groups during the electricity generation process. The diversity of archaea dramatically decreased after 20 days of operation. The detected archaea were hydrogenotrophic methanogens, and the Methanobacterium genus disappeared during the periods of stable electricity generation via acidogenesis.
authors.affiliation: State Key Lab of Urban Water Resources and Environment (SKLUWRE), School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China. zhaoguanghit@126.com
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: Chein-Chi
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Xiao-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000382:microbiology*; D018441:Biofilms; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis*; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D002417:Cattle; D058645:Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; D004560:Electricity; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000032:analysis; D005243:Feces; D059013:Microbial Consortia
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile