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Waste Water Derived Electroactive Microbial Biofilms: Growth, Maintenance, and Basic Characterization
Published on: December 29, 2013
Oxidation of glucose by syntrophic association between Geobacter and hydrogenotrophic methanogens in microbial fuel
Godwin E Oyiwona1, James Ogbonna2, Chukwudi Uzoma Anyanwu3
1Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
Objective:
To investigate a syntrophic interaction between Geobacter sulfurreducens and hydrogenotrophic methanogens in sludge-inoculated microbial fuel cell (MFC) systems running on glucose with an improved electron recovery at the anode.
Results:
The presence of archaea in MFC reduces Coulombic efficiency (CE) due to their electron scavenging capability but, here, we demonstrate that a syntrophic interaction can occur between G. sulfurreducens and hydrogenotrophic methanogens via interspecies H2 transfer with improvement in CE and power density. The addition of the methanogenesis inhibitor, 2-bromoethanesulfonate (BES), resulted in the reduction in power density from 5.29 to 2 W/m3, and then gradually increased to the peak value of 5.5 W/m3 when BES addition was stopped.
Conclusion:
Reduction of H2 partial pressure by archaea is an efficient approach in improving power output in a glucose-fed MFC system using Geobacter sp. as an inoculum.
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