title: Development and testing of bioelectrochemical reactors converting wastewater organics into hydrogen peroxide.
abstract: In a bioelectrochemical system, the energy content in dissolved organic matter can be used to power the production of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), which is a potentially useful chemical at wastewater treatment plants. H(2)O(2) can be produced by the cathodic reduction of oxygen. We investigated four types of gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs) for this purpose. A GDE made of carbon nanoparticles bound with 30% polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) (wt./wt.C) to a carbon fiber paper performed best and catalyzed H(2)O(2) production from oxygen in air with a coulombic efficiency of 95.1%. We coupled the GDE to biological anodes in two bioelectrochemical reactors. When the anodes were fed with synthetic wastewater containing acetate they generated a current of up to ∼0.4 mA/mL total anode compartment volume. H(2)O(2) concentrations of ∼0.2 and ∼0.5% could be produced in 5 mL catholyte in 9 and 21 h, respectively. When the anodes were fed with real wastewater, the generated current was ∼0.1 mA/mL and only 84 mg/L of H(2)O(2) was produced.
authors: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. oskar.modin@chalmers.se
authors: Oskar
authors: O
authors: Modin
authors: Kensuke
authors: K
authors: Fukushi
mesh_terms: D000085:Acetates / Q000737:chemistry; D019149:Bioreactors; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D002384:Catalysis; D004058:Diffusion; D004563:Electrochemistry; D004566:Electrodes; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene / Q000737:chemistry; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000085:Acetates; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002244:Carbon; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D010100:Oxygen