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Updated: Dec 23, 2025

Electrochemically and Bioelectrochemically Induced Ammonium Recovery
Published on: January 22, 2015
Urine in Bioelectrochemical Systems: An Overall Review
Carlo Santoro1, Maria Jose Salar Garcia1, Xavier Alexis Walter1
1Bristol BioEnergy Centre Bristol Robotics Laboratory, T-Block, UWE Coldharbour Lane Bristol BS16 1QY UK.
Abstract:
In recent years, human urine has been successfully used as an electrolyte and organic substrate in bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) mainly due of its unique properties. Urine contains organic compounds that can be utilised as a fuel for energy recovery in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and it has high nutrient concentrations including nitrogen and phosphorous that can be concentrated and recovered in microbial electrosynthesis cells and microbial concentration cells. Moreover, human urine has high solution conductivity, which reduces the ohmic losses of these systems, improving BES output. This review describes the most recent advances in BESs utilising urine. Properties of neat human urine used in state-of-the-art MFCs are described from basic to pilot-scale and real implementation. Utilisation of urine in other bioelectrochemical systems for nutrient recovery is also discussed including proofs of concept to scale up systems.
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