title: Electricity generation from food wastes and characteristics of organic matters in microbial fuel cell.
abstract: The microbial fuel cell (MFC) was evaluated as an alternative way to recover electricity from canteen based food waste. Characteristics of the organics in food waste before and after the MFC treatment were analyzed to investigate how the organic matters were biodegraded and transformed during the MFC treatment. A maximum power density of 5.6W/m(3) and an average output voltage of 0.51V were obtained. During the MFC operation, the hydrophilic and acidic fractions were more readily degraded, compared to the neutral fractions. Additionally, aromatic compounds in the hydrophilic fraction were more preferentially removed than non-aromatic compounds. The MFC could easily remove the tryptophan protein-like substances in all fractions and aromatic proteins in hydrophilic and hydrophobic neutral fractions. Additionally, the hydrophobic amide-1 proteins and aliphatic components were readily hydrolyzed and biodegraded in the MFC. These findings may facilitate the pretreatment and posttreatment choices for MFC system fed with food waste.
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), Harbin 150090, China; School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China. Electronic address: hittianyu@163.com.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Tsinghua Tongheng Urban Planning & Design Institute, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
authors.forename: Lipin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Food Engineering, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin 150076, China.
authors.forename: Xinying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Su
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D004560:Electricity; D005502:Food; D005735:Garbage; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods; D014364:Tryptophan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D014364:Tryptophan
keywords: Electricity generation; Food waste; Fractionation; Microbial fuel cell; Organic matter