Sampling location of the inoculum is crucial in designing anodes for microbial fuel cells

Stephanie F. Ketep (1, 2) , Alain Bergel (1) , Marie Bertrand-Huleux (3) , Wafa Achouak (3) , Eric Fourest (2)

1 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique
2 CTP - Centre Technique du Papier
3 LEMIRE - Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne de la Rhizosphère et d'Environnements Extrêmes

A Kraft pulp mill effluent was used as the inoculum to form microbial bioanodes under controlled potential at +0.4 V/SCE. Samples were collected at the inlet and outlet of the aerated lagoon of the treatment line. The outlet sample allowed efficient bioanodes to be designed (5.1 A/m²), which included Geobacter and Desulfuromonas sp. in their microbial community. In contrast, the bioanodes formed with the inlet sample did not contain directly connecting anode-respiring bacteria and led to lower currents. It was necessary to reform this bioanode at lower applied potential (-0.2 V/SCE) to select more efficient electroactive species and increase the current density to 5 A/m².

Mots clés: Microbial fuel cell (MFC); Waste-water treatment; Pulp mill effluent; Bioanode; Inoculum

Domaines: Génie chimique; Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire; Génie des procédés

Stephanie F. Ketep, Alain Bergel, Marie Bertrand-Huleux, Wafa Achouak, Eric Fourest. Sampling location of the inoculum is crucial in designing anodes for microbial fuel cells. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 2013, vol. 73, pp. 12-16. ⟨10.1016/j.bej.2013.01.001⟩. ⟨hal-00877678⟩