title: Characteristics of electricity generation and biodegradation in tidal river sludge-used microbial fuel cells.
abstract: The electricity generation behavior of microbial fuel cell (MFC) using the sludge collected from the riverbank of a tidal river, and the biodegradation of the sludge by the electricity generation are evaluated. Although the maximum current density (150-300 mA/m(2)) was higher than that of MFC using freshwater sediment (30 mA/m(2)), the output current was greatly restricted by the mass transfer limitation. However, our results also indicate that placing the anode in different locations in the sludge could reduce the mass transfer limitation. After approximately 3 months, the removal efficiency of organic carbon was approximately 10%, demonstrated that MFC could also enhance the biodegradation of the sludge by nearly 10-fold comparing with the natural biodegradation. We also found that the biodegradation could be identified by the behavior of oxygen consumption of the sludge. Importantly, the oxygen consumption of the sludge became higher along with the electricity generation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1 Chome 4-1, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan. Electronic address: narong-cambodia@hiroshima-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Narong
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Touch
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1 Chome 4-1, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hibino
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1 Chome 4-1, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nagatsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1 Chome 4-1, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan.
authors.forename: Kouhei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tachiuchi
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D004560:Electricity; D012722:Sewage
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage
keywords: Biodegradation; MFC; Oxygen consumption; Redox condition; Tidal river sludge