title: New process for copper migration by bioelectricity generation in soil microbial fuel cells.
abstract: The soil microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a promising biotechnology for the bioelectricity recovery as well as the remediation soil. Moreover, there were no studies on the heavy metal pollution in a soil MFC yet. A soil MFC was constructed to remediate the contaminated soil, and the electric field was generated from the oxidation of the acetate at the anode. We demonstrated the copper migration, the power generation, and the pH variation in the soil and the electrodes. The maximal voltage and the power density of 539 mV and 65.77 m W/m(2) were obtained in the soil MFC. The chemical fractionation of copper (Cu) was analyzed with a modified BCR sequential extraction method. The soluble Cu form and the total Cu contents from the anode to the cathode increased, and the difference between them kept growing over time. The Cu fractions in the soil and the electrodes were converted with the change of the dramatic pH from the anode to the cathode. There was a focusing effect leading to the change of the Cu forms, and the extractable acid form content increased in the three fifths where the acid and the alkali fronts met.
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Hailiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Xian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China. lxnseu@163.com.
authors.forename: Xianning
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D012989:Soil Pollutants; D003300:Copper
keywords: Copper migration; Electric field; Proton transport; Redox chemistry; Soil microbial fuel cell