Effect of microbial fuel cell operation time on the disinfection efficacy of electrochemically synthesised catholyte from urine
Effect of microbial fuel cell operation time on the disinfection efficacy of electrochemically synthesised catholyte from urine
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer an excellent solution to tackle some of the major challenges currently faced by humankind: sustainable energy sources, waste management and water stress. Besides treating wastewater and producing useful electricity from urine, ceramic MFCs can also generate biocidal catholyte in-situ. It has been proved that the electricity generation from the MFCs has a high impact in the catholyte composition. Therefore, the catholyte composition constantly changes while electricity is generated. However, these changes in catholyte composition with time has not yet been studied and that could highly contribute to the disinfection efficacy. In this work, the evolution of the catholyte generation and composition with the MFC operation time has been chemically and microbiologically evaluated, during 42 days. The results show an increase in pH and conductivity with the operation time, reaching pH 11.5. Flow cytometry and luminometer analyses of bioluminescent pathogenic E. coli exposed to the synthesised catholyte revealed killing properties against bacterial cells. A bio-electrochemical system, capable of electricity generation and simultaneous production of bactericidal catholyte from human urine is presented. The possibility to electrochemically generate in-situ a bacterial killing agent from urine, offers a great opportunity for water reuse and resource recovery for practical implementations.
Catholyte production, Ceramic membrane, Electroosmotic drag, Energy from waste, Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC), Urine, Urine treatment
294-303
Merino-Jimenez, I.
429a40e2-04dd-42b8-8439-ac7c545ec05f
Obata, O.
a4215b3c-fcf2-4894-b1a7-f82707a0632b
Pasternak, G.
fd3857b4-1e43-4fa7-aab8-0162c02b2c1b
Gajda, I.
943dd6bd-524b-4c7b-b794-dec5ee8014b7
Greenman, J.
eb3d9b82-7cac-4442-9301-f34884ae4a16
Ieropoulos, I.
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
1 February 2021
Merino-Jimenez, I.
429a40e2-04dd-42b8-8439-ac7c545ec05f
Obata, O.
a4215b3c-fcf2-4894-b1a7-f82707a0632b
Pasternak, G.
fd3857b4-1e43-4fa7-aab8-0162c02b2c1b
Gajda, I.
943dd6bd-524b-4c7b-b794-dec5ee8014b7
Greenman, J.
eb3d9b82-7cac-4442-9301-f34884ae4a16
Ieropoulos, I.
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
Merino-Jimenez, I., Obata, O., Pasternak, G., Gajda, I., Greenman, J. and Ieropoulos, I.
(2021)
Effect of microbial fuel cell operation time on the disinfection efficacy of electrochemically synthesised catholyte from urine.
Process Biochemistry, 101, .
(doi:10.1016/j.procbio.2020.10.014).
Abstract
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer an excellent solution to tackle some of the major challenges currently faced by humankind: sustainable energy sources, waste management and water stress. Besides treating wastewater and producing useful electricity from urine, ceramic MFCs can also generate biocidal catholyte in-situ. It has been proved that the electricity generation from the MFCs has a high impact in the catholyte composition. Therefore, the catholyte composition constantly changes while electricity is generated. However, these changes in catholyte composition with time has not yet been studied and that could highly contribute to the disinfection efficacy. In this work, the evolution of the catholyte generation and composition with the MFC operation time has been chemically and microbiologically evaluated, during 42 days. The results show an increase in pH and conductivity with the operation time, reaching pH 11.5. Flow cytometry and luminometer analyses of bioluminescent pathogenic E. coli exposed to the synthesised catholyte revealed killing properties against bacterial cells. A bio-electrochemical system, capable of electricity generation and simultaneous production of bactericidal catholyte from human urine is presented. The possibility to electrochemically generate in-situ a bacterial killing agent from urine, offers a great opportunity for water reuse and resource recovery for practical implementations.
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Accepted/In Press date: 21 October 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 25 October 2020
Published date: 1 February 2021
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA under the grant no. OPP1094890 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Catholyte production, Ceramic membrane, Electroosmotic drag, Energy from waste, Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC), Urine, Urine treatment
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 454825
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454825
ISSN: 1359-5113
PURE UUID: f8060b11-ec54-4e60-ae8c-8958e8daaab7
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Date deposited: 24 Feb 2022 21:51
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:04
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Author:
I. Merino-Jimenez
Author:
O. Obata
Author:
G. Pasternak
Author:
I. Gajda
Author:
J. Greenman
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