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Enhanced MFC power production and struvite recovery by the addition of sea salts to urine

Enhanced MFC power production and struvite recovery by the addition of sea salts to urine
Enhanced MFC power production and struvite recovery by the addition of sea salts to urine
Urine is an excellent fuel for electricity generation in Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs), especially with practical implementations in mind. Moreover, urine has a high content in nutrients which can be easily recovered. Struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) crystals naturally precipitate in urine, but this reaction can be enhanced by the introduction of additional magnesium. In this work, the effect of magnesium additives on the power output of the MFCs and on the catholyte generation is evaluated. Several magnesium sources including MgCl2, artificial sea water and a commercially available sea salts mixture for seawater preparation (SeaMix) were mixed with real fresh human urine in order to enhance struvite precipitation. The supernatant of each mixture was tested as a feedstock for the MFCs and it was evaluated in terms of power output and catholyte generation. The commercial SeaMix showed the best performance in terms of struvite precipitation, increasing the amount of struvite in the solid collected from 21% to 94%. Moreover, the SeaMix increased the maximum power performance of the MFCs by over 10% and it also changed the properties of the catholyte collected by increasing the pH, conductivity and the concentration of chloride ions. These results demonstrate that the addition of sea-salts to real urine is beneficial for both struvite recovery and electricity generation in MFCs.
Microbial fuel cell (MFC), Ceramic membrane, Struvite recovery, Catholyte generation, Urine treatment
0043-1354
46-53
Merino-Jimenez, Irene
9c613b04-8a10-459c-a97d-49e7d666f43a
Celorrio, Veronica
5ebb7fb5-a74c-4872-9795-5830dc915d0b
Fermin, David J.
bbb1f641-4d47-4e36-b227-7056ed9f3b48
Greenman, John
eb3d9b82-7cac-4442-9301-f34884ae4a16
Ieropoulos, Ioannis
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
Merino-Jimenez, Irene
9c613b04-8a10-459c-a97d-49e7d666f43a
Celorrio, Veronica
5ebb7fb5-a74c-4872-9795-5830dc915d0b
Fermin, David J.
bbb1f641-4d47-4e36-b227-7056ed9f3b48
Greenman, John
eb3d9b82-7cac-4442-9301-f34884ae4a16
Ieropoulos, Ioannis
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13

Merino-Jimenez, Irene, Celorrio, Veronica, Fermin, David J., Greenman, John and Ieropoulos, Ioannis (2017) Enhanced MFC power production and struvite recovery by the addition of sea salts to urine. Water Research, 109, 46-53. (doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.11.017).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Urine is an excellent fuel for electricity generation in Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs), especially with practical implementations in mind. Moreover, urine has a high content in nutrients which can be easily recovered. Struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) crystals naturally precipitate in urine, but this reaction can be enhanced by the introduction of additional magnesium. In this work, the effect of magnesium additives on the power output of the MFCs and on the catholyte generation is evaluated. Several magnesium sources including MgCl2, artificial sea water and a commercially available sea salts mixture for seawater preparation (SeaMix) were mixed with real fresh human urine in order to enhance struvite precipitation. The supernatant of each mixture was tested as a feedstock for the MFCs and it was evaluated in terms of power output and catholyte generation. The commercial SeaMix showed the best performance in terms of struvite precipitation, increasing the amount of struvite in the solid collected from 21% to 94%. Moreover, the SeaMix increased the maximum power performance of the MFCs by over 10% and it also changed the properties of the catholyte collected by increasing the pH, conductivity and the concentration of chloride ions. These results demonstrate that the addition of sea-salts to real urine is beneficial for both struvite recovery and electricity generation in MFCs.

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Published date: 1 February 2017
Keywords: Microbial fuel cell (MFC), Ceramic membrane, Struvite recovery, Catholyte generation, Urine treatment

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 454048
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454048
ISSN: 0043-1354
PURE UUID: 6f88deef-f244-4e8d-a3bd-cf0c09c769bd
ORCID for Ioannis Ieropoulos: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9641-5504

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Date deposited: 27 Jan 2022 19:20
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:10

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Contributors

Author: Irene Merino-Jimenez
Author: Veronica Celorrio
Author: David J. Fermin
Author: John Greenman

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