Simultaneous Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation and Electricity Generation in Microbial Fuel Cell: Performance and Electrochemical Characteristics
Jiqiang Zhang, Zaiwang Zhang, Kun Rong, Haiying Guo +7
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92% confidenceThis study demonstrates an anode anammox MFC that simultaneously achieves anaerobic ammonium oxidation and electricity generation using highly effective anammox bacteria on inorganic nitrogen media. The system achieved excellent nitrogen removal (>90% for NH₄⁺ and NO₂⁻) with a maximum volumetric rate of 3.01 kgN/(m³·d), and generated electricity with maximum power density of 1308.23 mW/m³. However, coulombic efficiency remained low (4.09–5.99%), primarily due to severe anodic polarization and high charge transfer resistance accounting for ~90% of total anode resistance.
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Abstract
In this study, a microbial fuel cell (MFC) that can achieve simultaneous anode anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) and electricity generation (anode anammox MFC) by high-effective anammox bacteria fed with purely inorganic nitrogen media was constructed. As the influent concentrations of ammonium (NH4+-N) and nitrite (NO2−-N) gradually increased from 25 to 250 mg/L and 33–330 mg/L, the removal efficiencies of NH4+-N, NO2−-N and TN were over 90%, 90% and 80%, respectively, and the maximum volumetric nitrogen removal rate reached 3.01 ± 0.27 kgN/(m³·d). The maximum voltage and maximum power density were 225.48 ± 10.71 mV and 1308.23 ± 40.38 mW/m³, respectively. Substrate inhibition took place at high nitrogen concentrations (NH4+-N = 300 mg/L, NO2−-N = 396 mg/L). Electricity production performance significantly depended upon the nitrogen removal rate under different nitrogen concentrations. The reported low coulombic efficiency (CE, 4.09–5.99%) may be due to severe anodic polarization. The anode charge transfer resistance accounted for about 90% of the anode resistance. The anode process was the bottleneck for energy recovery and should be further optimized in anode anammox MFCs. The high nitrogen removal efficiency with certain electricity recovery potential in the MFCs suggested that anode anammox MFCs may be used in energy sustainable nitrogen-containing wastewater treatment.
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- 2022