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Enhanced performance of sulfate reducing bacteria based biocathode using stainless steel mesh on activated carbon
Mohita Sharma1, Pratiksha Jain, Jhansi L Varanasi
1TERI University, 10 Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110 070, India; TERI, Darbari Seth Block, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi 110 003, India.
Abstract:
An anoxic biocathode was developed using sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) consortium on activated carbon fabric (ACF) and the effect of stainless steel (SS) mesh as additional current collector was investigated. Improved performance of biocathode was observed with SS mesh leading to nearly five folds increase in power density (from 4.79 to 23.11 mW/m(2)) and threefolds increase in current density (from 75 to 250 mA/m(2)). Enhanced redox currents and lower Tafel slopes observed from cyclic voltammograms of ACF with SS mesh indicated the positive role of uniform electron collecting points. Differential pulse voltammetry technique was employed as an additional tool to assess the redox carriers involved in bioelectrochemical reactions. SRB biocathode was also tested for reduction of volatile fatty acids (VFA) present in the fermentation effluent stream and the results indicated the possibility of integration of this system with anaerobic fermentation for efficient product recovery.
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