Electroosmotically generated disinfectant from urine as a by-product of electricity in microbial fuel cell for the inactivation of pathogenic species
Electroosmotically generated disinfectant from urine as a by-product of electricity in microbial fuel cell for the inactivation of pathogenic species
This work presents a small scale and low cost ceramic based microbial fuel cell, utilising human urine into electricity, while producing clean catholyte into an initially empty cathode chamber through the process of electro-osmostic drag. It is the first time that the catholyte obtained as a by-product of electricity generation from urine was transparent in colour and reached pH>13 with high ionic conductivity values. The catholyte was collected and used ex situ as a killing agent for the inactivation of a pathogenic species such as Salmonella typhimurium, using a luminometer assay. Results showed that the catholyte solutions were efficacious in the inactivation of the pathogen organism even when diluted up to 1:10, resulting in more than 5 log-fold reduction in 4 min. Long-term impact of the catholyte on the pathogen killing was evaluated by plating Salmonella typhimurium on agar plates and showed that the catholyte possesses a long-term killing efficacy and continued to inhibit pathogen growth for 10 days.
Gajda, Iwona
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Obata, Oluwatosin
a4215b3c-fcf2-4894-b1a7-f82707a0632b
Greenman, John
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Ieropoulos, Ioannis A.
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1 December 2020
Gajda, Iwona
943dd6bd-524b-4c7b-b794-dec5ee8014b7
Obata, Oluwatosin
a4215b3c-fcf2-4894-b1a7-f82707a0632b
Greenman, John
eb3d9b82-7cac-4442-9301-f34884ae4a16
Ieropoulos, Ioannis A.
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
Gajda, Iwona, Obata, Oluwatosin, Greenman, John and Ieropoulos, Ioannis A.
(2020)
Electroosmotically generated disinfectant from urine as a by-product of electricity in microbial fuel cell for the inactivation of pathogenic species.
Scientific Reports, 10 (1), [5533].
(doi:10.1038/s41598-020-60626-x).
Abstract
This work presents a small scale and low cost ceramic based microbial fuel cell, utilising human urine into electricity, while producing clean catholyte into an initially empty cathode chamber through the process of electro-osmostic drag. It is the first time that the catholyte obtained as a by-product of electricity generation from urine was transparent in colour and reached pH>13 with high ionic conductivity values. The catholyte was collected and used ex situ as a killing agent for the inactivation of a pathogenic species such as Salmonella typhimurium, using a luminometer assay. Results showed that the catholyte solutions were efficacious in the inactivation of the pathogen organism even when diluted up to 1:10, resulting in more than 5 log-fold reduction in 4 min. Long-term impact of the catholyte on the pathogen killing was evaluated by plating Salmonella typhimurium on agar plates and showed that the catholyte possesses a long-term killing efficacy and continued to inhibit pathogen growth for 10 days.
Text
s41598-020-60626-x
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Published date: 1 December 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work has been supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, grant no. OPP1094890 and OPP1149065.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 454006
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454006
ISSN: 2045-2322
PURE UUID: 49326d16-0ccc-47c5-b7eb-0d1a8cce42d5
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Date deposited: 27 Jan 2022 18:12
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:04
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Author:
Iwona Gajda
Author:
Oluwatosin Obata
Author:
John Greenman
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